>> Good government agenda sails into headwinds

Imposing new lobbying rules by executive order was the easy part for President Barack Obama.

The tougher job will be backing up with permanent reforms the sweeping good government rhetoric he made a centerpiece of his campaign.

His ambitious pledges to fix Washington by bolstering campaign finance, disclosure, lobbying and ethics laws will likely soon collide with three complicating realities few envisioned when Obama began his presidential bid: an economic meltdown requiring a lot of political capital to address, a sense that his own campaign diminished momentum for some of his top proposals, and a political and regulatory landscape that could be more hostile to stricter rules.