BARACK OBAMA, Democratic National Convention, 2008 Of all the quaint maxims of Obama ’08, the notion that the “same old players” would be sidelined in his fresh-scrubbed Washington was particularly rich. So was that pledge from the candidate that lobbyists “will not run my White House.” That little keepsake from ’08 popped up a lot whenever an exception made its way through the revolving door. One of the most decorated lobbyists in town, Steve Ricchetti, became the latest exception when he joined Biden’s office as a senior adviser in early 2012. Ricchetti’s lobbying clients had included Fannie Mae, Eli Lilly, and the American Hospital Association, among others. Loopholes, loopholes. It seemed Ricchetti had deregistered as a lobbyist after Obama was elected, so it was all good, even though Ricchetti remained president of a lobbying firm. “Ricchetti has been through the revolving door more often than a bellhop at the Mayflower Hotel,”
