Idealism Meets Pragmatism

Yesterday, Senator Obama, opted out of the Public Finance system of campaigning. I made the mistake of listening to conservative radio today. Of course, this was the topic of discussion. I have to admit the conservatives have a good point, but always under deeper investigation, those points fall by the wayside. Obama said he'd be willing to accept the public finance if his opponent did and he has backed out of that agreement. Let's be clear, he never promised. Another, point the right-wing media has brought up is that Obama has been dedicated to campaign finance reform and believes in, "a robust system of public financing of elections." So this strategic decision is, of course, hypocritical.

Except, not at all. The idea of public finance is to give both candidates even playing ground to get elected. John McCain has already began spending his private funds to push towards the general election. Those adds on TV are not public money. Actually, if you think about it McCain has been running a privately funded campaign since February. So Obama is merely trying to catch up. John McCain has "agreed" to public finance, but already he's seeming to sneak by it. In fact, John McCain, the Maverick of campaign finance, did not use public financing in the primary election.

Back to the "pledge." He did duck the question when asked. He agreed to use public finance if McCain would curtail the spending of the RNC to be comparable to the spending of the DNC. This, McCain would not do, because the RNC has a larger war chest and typically outspends the Democrats. In the 2004 election cycle the RNC had a war chest of $785 million compared to the $683 million the Democrats had. The Democrats will most likely be outspent by a hundred million dollars, if not more. And Mr. Maverick was all too willing to let this happen.

McCain also made a point that privately financed elections allow special interest groups to sway the elections. That is really a stretch coming from the McCain camp, with the fact they employ five times as many lobbyists as Obama does. Senator Obama has rejected money from special interest groups, while Senator McCain lets outside "527" groups do his attacking for him. At the end of the day, Obama did something, in a sense, conservative. He is not "taking" your money for his campaign. I'd think Republicans would be thrilled, they do not have to pay for his run to the White House. In all seriousness, Obama will be earning every penny from everyday people who truly support him.