Why did BO's lawyer get such unbridled powers? Any guesses?

Please read the article attached. Yesterday I called BO's lawyer Robert Bauer- Der Gebbels Machine as a joke , but now I see it becoming a reality. How can a Democrat party still call themselves Democratic? Beats me.

Obama's lawyer consolidates power - Kenneth P. Vogel - Politico.com
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/18232.html Obama's lawyer consolidates powerKenneth P. Vogel, Politico.com President Barack Obama has installed his personal and political attorney, Bob Bauer, as the Democratic Party’s new lawyer, a move that gives Bauer unmatched power in Democratic legal circles and marks him as a top behind-the-scenes player in the president’s inner circle.

In addition to representing Obama in personal matters, such as the federal investigation of disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and political matters stemming from Obama’s presidential campaign, Bauer will also play that role for Obama’s new political network, Organizing for America, and the Democratic National Committee, which is administering the network.

The added work will mean a big pay day for Bauer, a leading election lawyer known for his shrewd but confrontational style, and his law firm, Perkins Coie, which becomes the preeminent Democratic firm. It already represents the Democrat’s Senate and House campaign committees.

It has reaped nearly $1.5 million in payments from Obama’s presidential campaign and an earlier political group since Bauer started representing Obama in 2005.

The move also completes the reshaping of the DNC in Obama’s image, a process that saw Obama allies take the reins at the highest levels of the party – including new chairman Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and new executive director Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, formerly a top Obama campaign aide.

Perhaps the closest recent parallel to Bauer’s broad reach is Republican lawyer Ben Ginsberg. In 2000, he was counsel for the Bush-Cheney campaign and in the Florida recount, then for Bush’s effort at a post-election political network, Progress for America. But he did not serve as the top outside lawyer for the Republican National Committee at the time.

Bauer brushed off questions about whether there’s precedence for a single political attorney having such broad influence. And he asserted that his many hats did not pose a potential conflict, because "in representing the president, his campaign organization, and the DNC, I am representing his interests as a Democratic president and leader of his party."

But the confluence of duties could pose something of a challenge, because of potentially overlapping needs of his clients and because of his reputation for pushing the bounds of campaign finance law.

Over the years, he has expressed skepticism about the implementation and enforcement of campaign finance rules and sued the Federal Election Commission on behalf of a client challenging the commission’s restrictions on so-called “soft money.”

Obama, on the other hand, has cast himself as an ardent supporter of stricter campaign finance rules. And the DNC this month sought permission to fight a Republican lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of soft money restrictions.

Bauer, representing the DNC, in a recent court filing in the matter alleged that Republicans are "callously attempting to dismantle needed reforms to make up for their fundraising deficiencies."

The DNC’s stance jibed with the concerns of advocates for stricter campaign rules, who worked closely with Obama during his days in the Senate and maintain high hopes he’ll champion their agenda as president.

Yet, they also blasted candidate Obama for a campaign maneuver in which Bauer played a central role: Obama’s reversal of a pledge to participate in the public financing system if his Republican opponent agreed to do the same. Campaign finance advocates predicted the move likely killed the system, which was intended to reduce the role of big-money in politics, but it also gave Obama a huge cash advantage over his Republican rival, Arizona Sen. John McCain, who accepted the $84 million public grant and its spending limits.

In explaining Obama’s decision to opt out of the system, Bauer claimed McCain’s top lawyer, Trevor Potter, rebuffed efforts to negotiate an agreement under which the two candidates would both participate in the system.

But Potter, rejected that characterization, alleging Bauer never tried to negotiate a deal.

Obama has pledged to fix the system as president. But Bauer in a 2005 post on his influential blog, suggested efforts to fix the system face tough prospects because public “support is needed and not forthcoming.”

It would be a good thing if Bauer convinced Obama to proceed cautiously on campaign finance reforms, said Brad Smith, a former FEC chairman who now heads the anti-regulation Center for Competitive Politics. He praised Bauer as “an exceptionally skilled lawyer” and asserted he “understands many of the ways in which campaign finance reform has failed.”

In many ways, Bauer’s role in Obama’s presidential campaign transcended the traditional general counsel role. He helped craft lines of attack and once famously ambushed a press conference call held by rival Hillary Clinton’s campaign to challenge her campaign’s accusations that Obama supporters violated caucus rules.

Bauer’s wife, Anita Dunn, was also a top adviser to Obama’s campaign.