Richard MichaelHypocrisy in the Obama Camp?
June 23rd 2008 20:48
One of the most endearing aspects of senator Obama and his campaign is the concept of change, the idea that Washington can be something better, something effecient and clean, a system in which the American people can be proud. Obama has made many promises of reform regarding many areas of our government, however he recently went back on one of these promises.
Dedicated to campaign finance reform, Obama pledged along with John McCain to run campaigns this fall that were completely publicly funded. Obama has always opposed private campaign funding citing it as a way for special interest groups to gain sway in the white house once the canidate has taken office. So why now has Obama announced that he will reject public funds? (the first canidate to reject them since the watergate scandal in '76) He points the the broken system saying, "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." However a more likely reason is that his private fundraising beats McCain's almost 3 to 1.
After Obama announced his campaign would be privately funded John McCain jumped on the opportunity to point out the hypocrisy in the situation. After all, Obama did promise to keep the campaign public to reduce the influence of special interest groups. When looking at the numbers though, it is interesting to see that 67% of Obama's private donations are from idividuals donating less than a thousand dollars. Furthermore, Obama's decision is a blow to so called 527 groups, organizations that receive massive limitless donations in order to smear the other canidate.
Obama's decision may not be a very pressing issue to the American public, lacking the sensation of a religious or sex scandal, but it does send a shiver down the spine for those of us who not only want Obama to win, but need him to win. Obama is an idealist, and like all idealists he's full of promises and rhetoric, vowing to change the world as we know it. However, he's also a politician. This "flip-flop," while small in scale could be the start of a disturbing trend. And despite his decision to run a privately funded campaign, he still vows to reform campaign finance and eliminate private funding. Its a confusing contradiction that stinks of the struggling alchoholic who pledges to stop drinking after "just a few more."
Dedicated to campaign finance reform, Obama pledged along with John McCain to run campaigns this fall that were completely publicly funded. Obama has always opposed private campaign funding citing it as a way for special interest groups to gain sway in the white house once the canidate has taken office. So why now has Obama announced that he will reject public funds? (the first canidate to reject them since the watergate scandal in '76) He points the the broken system saying, "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." However a more likely reason is that his private fundraising beats McCain's almost 3 to 1.
Obama's decision may not be a very pressing issue to the American public, lacking the sensation of a religious or sex scandal, but it does send a shiver down the spine for those of us who not only want Obama to win, but need him to win. Obama is an idealist, and like all idealists he's full of promises and rhetoric, vowing to change the world as we know it. However, he's also a politician. This "flip-flop," while small in scale could be the start of a disturbing trend. And despite his decision to run a privately funded campaign, he still vows to reform campaign finance and eliminate private funding. Its a confusing contradiction that stinks of the struggling alchoholic who pledges to stop drinking after "just a few more."
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