Barack Obama's Bad Decision on Public Financing
Sen. Barack Obama did not do his integrity any favor by going back on his pledge to use public financing this fall in the final months of the campaign. It will cost him, at least in the short run.
Instead of the $85 million in taxpayer money, Obama will most likely raise at least three times that amount in the home stretch of this election cycle marathon of words and dollars.
Obama's flip-flop will get strong hits from the McCain camp and rightly so. McCain, in need of money, is going the public route, and he'll make repeated references to the comparison and Obama's change of mind.
All this means that the presidency, in many ways, is up for sale in November. Obama's growing army of small contributors will be closely matched by independent groups for McCain. That independent money will be used largely for attack TV advertising by the business community, which shudders at the prospect of a Democratic president and Congress.
All of this matters little to the voters, who are more concerned about the high cost of gasoline, a worrisome economy, and the never-ending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Food on the table beats a he said-he said debate over campaign cash.
The truth is that public financing has never really caught on with voters since 1976. Even though the taxpayer's small checkoff every year is only $3 and does not add to the tax bill, taxpayers are more apt to check the NO column on their return.
Senator Obama, even in his wildest dreams, could not have imagined his campaign would become a cash cow. It met and then surpassed the Clinton money-raising machine and is now poised for more millions to run against McCain
This issue will not defeat Obama, but he looks smaller this week to me and others who worry about the presidency on the auction block.
Tags: presidential election 2008 | Barack Obama | campaigns
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Reader Comments
bad president- told by a 12 year-old girl
he is a very evil man...who the hell would but a BLACK PERSENDET WHO HATES THE COUNTRY THAT HES GOING TO HAVE POWER OVER!!????!!!!
i dont have any prob over blacks AT ALL!!
im just scared...being in texas im sure i will survive but..im scared the world will end becuz of this basturd!!
GET THE BASTURD OUT OF THIS WONDERFUL COUNTRY!!!
our acconomy is bad enough without him.
Obama Changed His Mind - Let's Move On
Bottom-line is, Obama changed his mind. Whether he thinks he will have to challenge the attack ads, or he wants to play for states he never would have been able to, he changed his mind.
To be honest, I wish he did use public money because it would have sent a stronger message than the one he is sending now. The Presidency of the United States of America is for sale, and let's not disguise that with 25 buck donors. The mere fact that we can give donations makes the seat for sale. Media wants money to air commercials; campaigns need funds to send out mailings (stamps aren't free); politicians need to pay advisors and researchers for all kinds of reasons. Campaigns cost money. Not sure they should cost more than 85 million US dollars, but that is the politically corrupt world we have created.
Obama never really thought he would be where he is financially. Let's be honest about that as well. He has his Harvard degree in law, but he ain't that smart. Nobody thought he would/could raise the money he has raised. The best political minds probably didn't imagine this kind of machine being created and operated by a black man, or any person for that matter. That said, he should not have went back on what he said. The best way to counter all those negative ads is to keep your head above the frey. This episode won't sink him, but it does ad extra baggage to an already heavy ship.
McCain is no bright star, but on this issue he wins hands down. Both have some major shortcomings, and as this general election rolls on we will see more from both. The dangerous thing for the Obama campaign is they've painted this Golden Boy image on Obama and it is starting to fade. His rhetoric is not matching with his actions. This will drum up images of Bush because Bush painted us with "compassionate conservatism" and "uniter not a divider", and look what happened.
That said, I am an optimist and can't imagine Obama would give us another 4 years of destruction. It is this optimism that I believe the U.S. was founded upon. No one is perfect, and I'm not looking for Obama to be perfect. I just see in his words, and most of his actions things that will propel this nation out of this downward spiral. McCain just isn't offering those hopes.
A sidenote - I had to respond to this - Tibor of XX - Obama's eligibility to be president? - That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Don't you think if he was not eligible to be president someone would have told him by now? From the Supreme Court to Congress to anyone, I think there would have been someone who would have said, "Mr. Obama you are not eligible to run for President of the United States."
Free speech is great, but free speech by ignorant people is dangerous and takes the cause back to the beginning of evolution. Bro, you are born here, you can run for the office. Check Article 2, Section 1, Paragraph 5 of the Constitution of the United States of America. It's pretty clear.
Peace
Unintelligents?
"Why are all Obama supporters foreigners, poor people or unintelligents? Oh, I forgot, that's America now."
That was pretty clever, God Bless McCain of IL. Based on the two sentences above, I'd surmise that you're a compassionate conservative Christian Republican (hipoChristian), who, and I'm taking a stab in the dark here, would not be averse to a little ethnic cleansing (in God's name, of course) should your homeboy McCain sleaze his way into office. Cuturally, America is changing for the better, in my opinion. I know you miss the days of "separate but equal" where everyone knew their place. All this diversity is probably going to make your head explode. The good news is no matter how much you rail against this cultural shift, not you or O'Riley, Limbaugh, Hannity or any of your hate-mongering idols, are going to stop it.
Btw, although born here and maybe not poor (seems unlikely), your writing style indicates a measure of unintelligence.
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John W. Mashek covered politics in Washington for four decades with U.S. News & World Report, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the Boston Globe. His primary beats were Congress, the White House, and national politics. He covered every presidential election from 1960 to 1996. He was a panelist in three televised presidential debates in 1984, 1988, and 1992.