Even with tougher rules, the White House has still hosted corporate interests and lobbyists at times, but officials say Obama's ethics efforts have had a strong impact. "President Obama has done more in the past four years to close the revolving door of special interest influence than any president before him," said White House spokesman Eric H. Schultz.
"Many of the lobbyists I know are far less warm on Obama than they were four years ago," said Wright H. Andrews Jr., a former president of the American League of Lobbyists. "They're understandably displeased with his vilification of lobbyists."
Limousine rentals were still doing brisk business, judging by the elegant stretches clogging downtown streets. Several limousine services advertised inaugural specials at as much as $140 an hour, touting plush 20-passenger Lincolns and Humvees equipped with large-screen televisions and minibars stocked with champagne. The D.C. Taxicab Commission expected to process 1,500 special inauguration chauffeur permits, as far away as Florida and Oklahoma, said spokesman Neville Waters.
He said limo companies typically import hundreds of extra sedans for the inauguration from outside Washington, mandating a need for special permits. But Waters said the city expected fewer limos navigating downtown D.C. this weekend compared to four year ago.
"I guess it's kind of a been-there, done-that kind of thing," he said.
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Associated Press writer Nedra Pickler contributed to this report from Washington.
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