“Obama says no to public financing”
Obama has in a unprecedented move decided to forgo his right to public financing money for his General Election campaign. In true Obama style he sighted his intent to not be held down or part of the “broken system” and wanted to continue along the grassroots style of campaign he has had so far (at least in the opinion of Obama supporters) Obama is the first president since the creation of the public financing system to turn it down, of course McCain spokesman claim he is seriously undermining the system and endangering it. This quite frankly is why we love Obama. However it is worth noting that Obama had managed to raise enormous amounts of funds from his supporters during his campaign $265m in donations in his presidential race, most of it from small donations given over the internet. This dwarfs the nearly $97m Mr McCain has so far raised. This puts this decision in a slightly different perspective as the public funding money is somewhere in the region of $80m and negates any other funding from supporters. This makes it a little more easier for Obama to make this decision as if his past track record is anything to go by he is likely to come out with a much bigger pot of gold.
So i support Obama for his open shunning of the broken system and it does stay in keeping with his rhetoric and actions so far; but i am cautious of the overall benefit he will receive from this. This is politics and we should all be weary that there is much more than meets the eye.
June 23, 2008 at 3:12 pm
i could care less that he has chose to not accept public funding…it’s the fact that he said one thing and is now doing another that is a bit troubling to me. don’t try to spin it into something else. just own up to it & say that you decided to change your position. that simple…no spin needed.
The question was: “If you are nominated for President in 2008 and your major opponents agree to forgo private funding in the general election campaign, will you participate in the presidential public financing system?”
Obama checked: “Yes” and wrote:
“In February 2007, I proposed a novel way to preserve the strength of the public financing system in the 2008 election. My plan requires both major party candidates to agree on a fundraising truce, return excess money from donors, and stay within the public financing system for the general election. My proposal followed announcements by some presidential candidates that they would forgo public financing so they could raise unlimited funds in the general election. The Federal Election Commission ruled the proposal legal, and Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has already pledged to accept this fundraising pledge. If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election.”
June 27, 2008 at 1:54 am
Mahk – could you post an article for reference on the Obama decision?
June 27, 2008 at 2:13 am
Wanted to let you know that this post prompted me to write my own presidential election blog entry…
http://thesmacdown.blogspot.com/