Suddenly administration officials are permitted to take phone calls and meetings with lobbyists. I know, you’re shocked that the Obama Administration was waging a phony war against K-Street.

The lifting of the ban comes after K Street has cried foul for months and has challenged the White House on its restrictions. …

Now, the just-revised rules will allow government personnel to accept meetings and calls from federally registered lobbyists on the implementation of stimulus projects. The head of the Office of Management and Budget, Peter Orszag, issued a new guidance late Friday regarding the administration’s communications with registered lobbyists about economic recovery funds.

Lobbyists can make their cases — and agency officials can listen to them — at “widely attended gatherings.” Government officials have to ask whether the person they are talking to at such events is a federally registered lobbyist speaking on behalf of a client.

Why the sudden change of heart? With Americans finally catching on to the destructive sham that is ObamaCare, the administration has realized that it needs the services of lobbyists to sell the poisonous snake oil. Alienating them, or even sending them to the other side, would be the absolute death of the legislation.

Stormy weather in Congress is threatening President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, but some see a silver lining: the lobbyists are still mostly on board.

The drug industry, the American Medical Association, hospital groups and the insurance lobby are saying Congress must make major changes this year. Disagreements — chiefly between liberal and conservative Democrats — brought Congress to a standstill this week. But television ads paid for by drug companies and insurers continued to emphasize the benefits of a health care overhaul — not the groups’ objections to some of the proposals. …

The political infighting on Capitol Hill has strengthened the hand of the health care groups, since liberals have been thwarted so far in their attempts to win speedy passage of the legislation through the House and Senate.

Via Hot Air.