On his first day, President Obama signed an executive order placing restrictions on lobbyists working in the White House, as he promised to do during the campaign. We rated it Promise Kept.

But we've since learned new information that is prompting us to keep a closer eye on Promise No. 240 and move the needle to Compromise.

The executive order Obama signed includes a waiver clause. The executive order says a waiver may be granted if "the literal application of the restriction is inconsistent with the purposes of the restriction" or "it is in the public interest. ... The public interest shall include, but not be limited to, exigent circumstances relating to national security or to the economy."

And a waiver seems to be in the works already — for William J. Lynn III, the appointee  to be deputy secretary of defense. Lynn was formerly a lobbyist for the giant defense contractor Raytheon.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the committee needs more information before confirming Lynn.

The committee wants to know "whether a waiver will be forthcoming and what the scope of the waiver will be," said Levin in a statement on Jan. 22, 2009.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, when asked about Lynn on Jan. 22, said the waiver process is necessary to allow uniquely qualified people to serve. "In the case of Mr. Lynn, he's somebody who obviously is superbly qualified," Gibbs said.  "His experience going back to his Pentagon jobs during the Clinton administration make him uniquely qualified to do this."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he asked for an exception for Lynn because "he came with the highest recommendations of a number of people that I respect a lot." Gates spoke at a Defense Department news briefing on Jan. 22, 2009.

Another former lobbyist, William Corr, was tapped to be deputy secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services. He previously lobbied for the nonprofit Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Corr has not yet been confirmed, but ABC News' Jake Tapper quoted a White House official saying that Corr intends to recuse himself from tobacco policy.

Perhaps a lobbyist who worked to keep kids from smoking could work at HHS without a conflict. But the nomination of a defense industry lobbyist to work at the Defense Department? Obama said that "no political appointees in an Obama-Biden administration will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years." Lynn's appointment contradicts that.

The waiver clause states that an exception to the rule should serve the public interest, and it has to be signed by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. That might sound like an independent party, but OMB is part of the Obama White House, so it essentially means the administration would decide on its own who merits a waiver.

Since there"s only talk of one or two waivers now, we"re going to drop the Obameter rating a notch to Compromise. But we"ll be keeping a close eye to see if Obama seeks many waivers, and we might have to revisit our rating.