Obama says no to public financing; McCain throws hissy fit
Given Barack Obama's astronomical fundraising numbers, it was only a matter of time before he decided to eschew public funds to finance his campaign. From today's Times:
Democrat Barack Obama today rejected public financing for his presidential campaign, changing an earlier stand and becoming the first major party candidate to drop out of the system since it began after the Watergate scandal....
Early in the primary season, Obama had said he would use public financing if his Republican opponent did. But that was before the presumptive Democratic nominee harnessed the Internet and became a fund-raising powerhouse.
This move not only makes Obama the first major candidate in more than 30 years to reject public funding (which forbids candidates from raising private funds), but also goes back on his very public indications he would agree to public funding. (See an earlier Times' editorial admonishing Obama for waffling on his pledge.)
Needless to say, McCain has been gleefully calling foul all morning — he can afford to point fingers, in part because his fundraising numbers are pretty anemic compared to Obama's.
But McCain is no angel, either. Remember when he allegedly used public funds as backup to apply for a loan, and then tried immediately to withdraw from the public funding system? (Attempting to escape, ironically, from the very system he helped set up.) The outraged Dems filed suit shortly thereafter. The Federal Election Commission, lacking quorum, couldn't do much about it, either — which probably suited McCain just fine.
That incident aside, there are plenty of other loopholes that allow the private sector to creep in, a point Obama drove home in a video released this morning:
It's not an easy decision, especially because I support a robust system of public financing of elections. 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. John McCain's campaign and the Republican National Committee are fueled by contributions from Washington lobbyists and special interests PACs. We've already seen that he's not gonna stop the smears and attacks from his allies running so-called 527 groups, who will spend millions and millions of dollars in unlimited donations.
Swiftboating, anyone?
Tell us what you think:
*Photo: Joshua Roberts / Bloomberg News
At first I was against this move by Obama, but then his campaign mentioned that they'd tried to make a deal with McCain not use 527 organizations and PAC funding, but couldn't meet an agreement. If McCain isn't willing to back up his side of the deal there's no reason Obama should give up one of his advantages.
Posted by: skye | June 19, 2008 at 01:20 PM
This is public financing.
Posted by: ella | June 19, 2008 at 01:24 PM
straight up chess game and obama is ahead. man, is mc cain trying to be slick or what? thanks for posting the information skye. will spread that post over the net
Posted by: dee | June 19, 2008 at 01:40 PM
It's somewhat ironic that by eschewing public funding, Obama is in effect turning his back on special interest groups and looking to the larger American public to fund his campaign.
What this proves to me, is that it is time for campaign funding reform in our country.
Posted by: ceeJay | June 19, 2008 at 01:43 PM
The issue here is not whether he takes the funding or not, but that this is further proof that we can't trust the empty suit any further than we can throw it. Despite the suit being empty, it is full of ambiguous platitudes of "Change" which really weigh him down. And really, "Swiftboating, anyone?" The only reason Kerry got "swiftboated" is because people from his past came out and said how full of it he was, which will certainly happen to SNOBama because he's worse .
Posted by: coco | June 19, 2008 at 01:57 PM
Did the L.A. Times really just use "hissy fit" in a news headline? Wow. Journalism is truly dead.
Posted by: Dan Gerard | June 19, 2008 at 02:00 PM
You've got to be completely brainwashed to think that Obama isn't already running his campaign using public financing.
1.5 million people have funded his campaign so far.
McCain should be happy with the fact that Obama is choosing not to use the tax dollars of Americans that might not even want to vote for him; especially since he wouldn't be spending public funds and using taxes to run the government...the exact thing McCain and the Republican party is against.
Talk about flip-flopping hypocrites!
Posted by: Andrew | June 19, 2008 at 02:11 PM
Would we call this flipfloprisy? Ron
Posted by: Ronald Johnson | June 19, 2008 at 02:13 PM
Wrong!
PAC spending is pretty even, especially when you consider the non federal reporting committees such as America Coming Together, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_Coming_Together, which should add 10 million plus to the democrats side in the 2006 year.
PAC funding summary:
http://www.fec.gov/press/press2007/20071009pac/20071009pac.shtml
you can try to spin this all you want but Obama has lied, so much for change in politics.
Posted by: Jarrad | June 19, 2008 at 02:14 PM
I guess this is what Change is all about...
Posted by: Fred | June 19, 2008 at 02:31 PM
Obama is just another slimeball Chicago polithug. Pity, I switched parties to support him in the primary. He will get buried by the Clinton Machine before the convention and we will be stuck with McCain and company.
Posted by: Otto Focus | June 19, 2008 at 02:34 PM
The headline on this piece is really unprofessional for a newspaper like the Times. It's like something on Inside Edition.
Posted by: Dennis Myers | June 19, 2008 at 02:46 PM
He is by the people and for the people.
Posted by: jimjus | June 19, 2008 at 02:50 PM
Change we can believe in.
Today he's courting the unions, tomorrow he be back in
Canada.
Posted by: MIKE | June 19, 2008 at 02:55 PM
I'm seriously not understanding why this is an issue. Why does it matter that Obama has chosen not to use that source of money? McCain should be happy. If McCain wants to use the money, can't he?
I figure the less taxpayer money, the better.
Posted by: Jason | June 19, 2008 at 03:00 PM
Leave it to my party, the party of "limited government", the party that hates wasteful spending, the party that likes to call any spending by government "socialist", to complain when a candidate doesn't take money from the public pocket in order to run a campaign.
This is why I'm a Republican for Obama. McCain and his followers have lost their bearings. If only McCain had the balls to not ask the tax payer to pony up for his campaign and to find individuals who think he is worthy enough to contribute to. Instead, he's mad when a supposedly big government liberal turns down campaign welfare checks.
Well, now that McCain's on welfare and Obama isn't, I guess McCain finally has something in common with the poor in this country.
Posted by: Benjamin | June 19, 2008 at 03:13 PM
coco - that you defend the discredited swiftboats who never provided ANY evidence of their claims, speaks volumes about where you're coming from.
Too bad you're ignorant about the swiftboaters, the VERY SAME PEOPLE WHO WENT AFTER KERRY, already went after McCain in this election and they will probably do more. I suspect you won't be so permissive of it when they're targeting the candidate you've sworn allegiance to.
Posted by: Benjamin | June 19, 2008 at 03:17 PM
I thought Obama was different. This sounds like more of the same. Where is Hillary when you need her?
-PG
Posted by: Peter Griffin | June 19, 2008 at 03:24 PM
The money is from the people who believe in change. The ones who are complaining on this board are not donating so why do you care?
I will continue to donate to President Obama's campaign for change.
Posted by: ob08 | June 19, 2008 at 03:25 PM
No More Lobbyist!!!!!!
Senator Obama has said many times, "Lobbyist will not run my White House."
Getting rid of the extremely negative impact of lobbyist is one of the major reasons I support Senator Obama.
McCain has flip-flopped on many things. Yesterday he told the citizens of Missouri about a gas tax holiday he knows Congress will never approve.
Prior to McCain's event in Missouri yesterday, Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri said in a conference call that McCain's plan would cost the state 6,000 jobs and $167 million in federal gas tax dollars for Missouri's roadways.
"The people of Missouri can smell a phony deal a mile away," she said. "Frankly, that’s what John McCain’s gas tax is. He knew it wasn’t going to have any meaningful impact on people’s real pain – our dependence on foreign oil."
McCaskill said it was "a promise he knew he would never have to deliver on."
The "Could McCain Have Come Up with a More Ill-Suited Economic Advisor Than Phil Gramm?" is one of many examples for the damage caused by lobbyist specifically gas prices and the subprime housing damage.
http://www.alternet.org/election08/87999/?cID=936047#c936047
Posted by: Stan | June 19, 2008 at 04:03 PM
It is commendable that Obama asks the public to give if they want - public funding means our tax dollars could be used for things we don't want to fund. I always appreciate a choice.
Posted by: tmg | June 19, 2008 at 04:19 PM
It is a waste of Money we have Floods and Tornadoes We are at War because of Greed Money...WE do not need a President.Obama is this AntiChrist. His soul Bears the Seed of Shey and will castrate the will to destruct some of Mankind...It is what it is to Know...The Way for yourself...It has just begun of the Holocust that Obama will Reign over the land the end of the American Way...
Good Bye to the Red White and Blue Hello Jesus and Just is what it is...To gut up and take cover...for War on our land as the Mad man will destroy our land...
Posted by: Saint Gabriael | June 19, 2008 at 04:27 PM
My $80 or so that I've been able to afford to donate so far IS public financing.
I am the public. I voluntarily chose to donate what I could to the Obama campaign, and will continue to do so as I can afford.
John McCain is the one who's the hypocrite on campaign finance in this election.
He applied for primary financing from the FEC, then used that 'promisory note' of public funds to obtain a loan to keep his campaign afloat and to get on the ballot in primary states - then he "withdrew" from FEC financing - even though it was ILLEGAL to do so - since the FEC commission didn't have enough seats filled to reach a quorum, John McCain has not had to answer for breaking campaign finance laws.
He's used Cindy McCain's private jet for campaign travel, and hasn't paid standard rates as required by campaign finance law - campaigns are required to reimburse for the use of a business jet if it is used for campaign purposes.
Barack Obama's "word" was that he was willing to negotiate with the McCain campaign on the idea of them both accepting public financing - but the McCain campaign refused to come to an agreement on the outside influence of the millions and millions of dollars spent by PACs and 527's on behalf of (or more often, against) the candidates - which means NO DEAL.
The reason John McCain's trying to make such big deal about this non-issue is because that's all he's got - he can't win on real issues, so he has to cry about big, mean Obama raising an order of magnitude more funding than he can, and pull out the old "9/11, 9/11, 9/11, 9/11" with Rudy Guiliani simpering by his side in a rumpled, worse-for-wear rerun of the 2004 Republican Convention.
Tired and hollow.
Posted by: Chris, Seattle WA | June 19, 2008 at 05:04 PM
LA Times - Dont you think you should filter the nonsensical posts?
Saint Gabriel - uh... what?
Posted by: l3iodeez | June 19, 2008 at 05:15 PM
dam good move PRESIDENT OBAMA
Posted by: Donnie Green JR> | June 19, 2008 at 05:23 PM