Thursday, June 19, 2008

Obama Breaks Promise on Public Financing of Campaign

Well look at that.  Apparently Obama’s “new” politics is very similar to the politics we’re used to.  A politician who breaks his word.  A politician who does what will get him the most campaign cash.  A politician who wants more government control of everything except his own campaign.  Yeah, we’ve seen this before. 

Barack Obama is abandoning public financing for his presidential campaign, reversing his earlier stance in bold certainty he can raise millions more on his own as the first major-party candidate to bypass the tax-checkoff system that was hurried into place after the Watergate scandal.

Obama has shattered fundraising records during the primary season, and he promptly showed off his financial muscle Thursday with his first commercial of the general election campaign. The ad, a 60-second biographical spot, will begin airing Friday in 18 states, including historically Republican strongholds.

Though it opens him to charges of hypocrisy, Obama’s fundraising decision was hardly a surprise, given his record in raising money from private sources. Some $85 million in public money is available to each major party nominee during the fall campaign if they agree to forgo other contributions.

McCain told reporters in Minnesota on Thursday, “We will take public financing.”

As for his opponent, he said Obama “said he would stick to his word. He didn’t.”

(3) Comments
Posted by Owen at 1858 hrs
Politics + Politics - General

  1. It is becoming patently clear that Barack Obama’s core belief is getting himself elected President of the United States.  I thought “words are important.”  This guy is a fraud!!

    Posted by Justin on June 19, 2008 at 1918 hrs


  2. Who’s really surprised here?  I mean, this is a guy who got elected to the Illinois Senate by getting all of his primary opponents thrown off the ballot.  And he’s telling me that he’s not “politics as usual”?

    He’s a politician, just like the rest of them.

    Posted by Recess Supervisor on June 19, 2008 at 2009 hrs


  3. This is really being mischaracterized.

    Obama statement said “If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election.”

    1) He must become the nominee
    2) He must then come up with an agreement

    This is being presented as him saying “Yeah, of course, no matter what.” Problem is, he never said that.

    Sure, he is positioning so there is less of a hit to him if he opts out, but that is because the media and McCain are portraying him as already having pledged.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on June 20, 2008 at 1440 hrs


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