obama has decided not to use public funds in the general election.
"It's not an easy decision, and especially because I support a robust system of public financing of elections," Obama said in the video message.
"But the public financing of presidential elections as it exists today is broken and we face opponents who've become masters at gaming this broken system," he said.
moral high ground is all well and good, and i don't know enough about the public campaign financing system to really have a clear grasp on what's going on, but this sounds to me like he's stretching a little bit. i already gave the government my money for this, why not use it?
"The true test of a candidate for president is whether he will stand on principle and keep his word to the American people. Barack Obama has failed that test today, and his reversal of his promise to participate in the public finance system undermines his call for a new type of politics," she said.
i mean, ok, mccain. first of all, you flip-flop more than barack obama (let alone john kerry). second of all, obama's the first presidential candidate to refuse these funds since they were instituted. by definition, that makes this a new kind of politics.
it's like arguing with your grandpa about how the krauts aren't actually bad people. he's just too old and out of touch to get it.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
fiscal self-reliance will get you nowhere
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2 responses:
Strange, I was literally just about to post some Notes from the Right-Wing on this article.
I agree that opting out of public financing tarnishes Obama at least a little bit. A year ago, he was an outspoken proponent of this system. Four months ago, he was actually criticizing John McCain for considering opting out of public financing, and now he's calling it broken.
Make no mistake, Obama is opting out because he knows for certain that his campaign can raise a much larger amount of money if it frees itself from the public financing system. It's a strategic decision. It's an economical decision. But don't kid yourself and believe the spin that he's opting out for ethical reasons. He's opting out so he can raise more money and spend more money.
One of the main reasons the public financing system exists is to prevent large differences in campaign spending. Obama wants to get around that and outspend McCain all the way to the White House. It's a sound strategic move, but it does undermine the ethical basis for public campaign financing.
That being said, I do agree with him that the system should be reformed.
it wouldn't nearly mean as much if it wasn't in tandem with turning down pac/lobby money. if he was just denying federal funding while keeping corporate money, then i'd be grossly offended, and would probably start bringing a bit of cynicism to the hope party.
as it stands, john mccain is simply being positioned to look like a relic of the old system (which he is), and a hypocrite for championing campaign finance reform but still managing to find a ton of loopholes to help him out (which he is).
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