IntroductionIn any environment, people can be influenced to go against his or her better judgment or succumb to pressures in order to advance themselves to a higher position. This appears to be typical in the area of politics. Recent elections have brought the ethical issues to the forefront of the American mind. In this paper, the corruption involving business men and women in which both President-elect Barack Obama and Senator John McCain have had professional agreements with will be examined. The main issue with these dealings is a conflict of interest. This paper will also look at how President-Elect Obama and McCain reacted to the allegations and the roles they both played in the agreements. The team will attempt to revise the ethical standards and plainly communicate the new standards in order to resolve the issues.
Ground RulesThe ground rules manifested in the situation between President-Elect Obama and McCain are political and perceptual.
Official photographic portrait of US President Bar...
With his family by his side, Barack Obama is sworn...
English: In January 2009, President of the United ...Since both campaigns are jockeying to be perceived as the candidate who will clean up Washington, their promises are raising the bar for political behavior. According to Dilanian and Kelley (2008), both campaigns have emphasized ethics however; both campaigns have fundraisers who are under investigation by governmental agencies. This contradiction dilutes the argument of restoring higher ethics to the White House at the same time, jeopardizes the ground rules both candidates are trying to follow. For example, according to Dilanian and Kelley (2008), McCain's fundraiser Fred Malek was "censored by the Securities Exchange Commission" and President-Elect Obama's fundraiser James Reynolds was accused by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of "sham" consulting contracts. These examples highlight the problem of promising higher ethics while leading a group of people from different backgrounds."A conflict of interest is a situation in which someone in a position of trust, such as a...