Obama’s war on special interest groups has received praise for its populist tenor and condemnation from those in the Washington influencer circuit. But it reached a boiling point on Jan. 21, when he imposed an executive order that seeks to remove all lobbyist influence from the White House.

The executive order bars former lobbyist members of his administration from working with their former clients, or even from participating in administrative matters they have previously lobbied on. Moreover, anyone who leaves his administration can’t lobby his or her former administrative colleagues for at least two years. The order also bans members of his administration from receiving gifts from registered lobbyists or lobbying organizations for the duration of their service. The idea is to prevent those with positions in government from influencing policy that could favor their former employers.

Obama’s orders came the same week that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced government officials would be restricted from contact with lobbyists regarding the government’s $700 billion financial bailout plan. The communications crackdown is intended to limit the sphere of influence that lobbyists can have over officials who review bailout applicants and award funds. The message in both cases is clear: Obama staffers, leave your influences at the door.

All this sounds grand. But there’s just one (okay, several) problems: like them or not, lobbyists are a long-standing component of the administrative decision making machine. That’s isn’t to say things can’t change … but their knowledge of niche policy areas gives them a breed of specialization that’s more nuanced than the average politician, and because of this they often legislators make informed decisions. In fact, this often makes lobbyists ideal for administrative jobs. Government needs experts to help navigate Washington’s ever-changing landscape, and shutting the insiders out could lessen the Obama administration’s ability to write policy judiciously.

Second, it’s a black-and-white reading of the industry. We love to hate on lobbyists, and as taxpayers, we hate it when federal funds are misspent. However, we love it when those same funds are earmarked for the state we live in. We grumble when government cuts a check for big oil but we consider it a victory when the environmental lobby succeeds in influencing the passage of stricter polluting laws. Our desires to tear through the influencer wool typically spare an exception to those who fight for policies we actually believe in. Not all lobbyists are created equal. Guess who convinces Congressmen to write all that pro-choice, pro-environment, pro-worker legislation we love? You guessed it.

Arguably, Obama himself has recognized the limitations of his lobby moratorium. Just two days after the executive order, Obama waived his own rules when he nominated two former lobbyists, William Lynn and William Corr, for the posts of Deputy Secretary of Defense and Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services, respectively. Lynn, a former aide for Senator Ted Kennedy, was Senior Vice President of Government Operations and Strategy at Waltham, Massachusetts-based defense contractor Raytheon. Corr was Executive Director of the privately funded Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. Obama’s hiring of Lynn directly contradicts his own executive order, as Lynn’s tenure at Raytheon might pose a conflict of interest when handling budget duties and defense contracts at the Department of Defense.

What sectors of the lobbying industry will be hit hardest by Obama’s administrative changes is anyone’s guess, but it’s safe to say that the next several years are going to be shaky for the special interest circuit regardless. The U.S. financial meltdown has Washington abuzz with talk of the House Financial Services Committee regulating the financial industry and overhauling its regulatory system, putting lobbyists with financial service clients in a particularly tough spot. Trade groups representing the insurance agencies will be working overtime as talk of massive healthcare reform has many fearing an impending public health insurance plan. On the environmental front, the Obama administration plans to unleash a series of aggressive emission reduction mandates that could put a pinch on energy interest groups.