Joe Biden "named at least 40 current and former registered lobbyists to his transition team," the Wall Street Journal reports. Restore the soul of America, indeed. More like restore the soles of the loafers at Gucci gulch.
Seriously, the right to petition is protected in the First Amendment for a reason, and it's actually probably better for the country to have people familiar with interest groups and advocacy helping to inform policy, as opposed to trying to have some sort of puritanical, holier-than-thou attitude toward lobbyists and lobbying. There's something almost refreshing about Biden's refusal to bow to Elizabeth Warren-style objections to this sort of thing. It matters not just that someone was a lobbyist, but who the lobbyists were representing—environmental groups, or energy companies? gun-control groups, or gun manufacturers? Maybe people won't get that upset about this because they are so cynical already from the experience that when a new president comes in as an outsider promising to drain the swamp, it's often all kind of pretend anyway, a big show.
