Obama backs out of public financing

[nbiggershaft]

Originally Posted by Scrum

So Obama is supposed to keep with the public financing even after McCain dropped out of it?

That was primary public financing, neither candidate talked up primary public financing and most candidates consider the current primary public financing to be inadequate. Like I said, this isn't an issue. Obama certainly wasn't ever using that public financing either and I don't fault him for it.

Originally Posted by Scrum

He took a campaign loan out against public money he's never going to receive.

Again, what do you care? It was just collateral. He will be paying back the loan with raised funds.

[motivez]

Originally Posted by nbiggershaft

Again, what do you care? It was just collateral. He will be paying back the loan with raised funds.

Read my post.

[nbiggershaft]

Originally Posted by motivez

Uh, the law requires him to use the public finance system since he used it as collateral to secure a loan.

It's a pretty big deal that he's trying to skirt the law. Of course, with him trying to secure Bush's third term, it'd just be a continuation of a long running policy of violating the law, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.

Only if he was stupid enough to actually put that in the terms of the loan. The primary public financing system is often used to pay off loans.

[Stylerod]

Originally Posted by motivez

People complain about special interest money in politics, not small amount donors.. regular people like you and me

No, people complain that a politician will spend 10's or 100's of millions of dollars just to get elected. It's an insane amount of money. People wanted reform. One of the ways was to use Public money and Obama was all for it when it looked like that was the position he thought would work best for him.

[motivez]

They care about the fact that the money has come from lobbyists and other special interests rather than from "the people" -- which is why the fact that it's taxpayer money and not special interest money has mattered

But in Obama's case, his campaign is being financed by "the people" through small donors, and he rejects lobbyist money, etc..

[motivez]

The law seems pretty clear to me, but I'm sure Bush's FEC wont be too apt to go after McCain.

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by motivez

They care about the fact that the money has come from lobbyists and other special interests rather than from "the people" -- which is why the fact that it's taxpayer money and not special interest money has mattered

But in Obama's case, his campaign is being financed by "the people" through small donors, and he rejects lobbyist money, etc..

Obama pledged early on to have new standards and he isn't meeting them. Picking and choosing the standards he wants to stick with isn't good enough. He knew long before he started running for president how the game works and I'm sure he's all read up on GOP swift-boating. He knew this before making his pledges to use public financing. I think his backing out here really hurts his integrity.

And just because he doesn't directly accept money from lobbyists doesn't mean they won't be donating to his campaign in some fashion. The GOP is not the the leader in smear campaigns or the only one who engages in this behavior. Moveon.org has already gotten to work and they have a huge budget to smear McCain. They already started hitting him with ads of crying mothers saying McCain can't take their children... These won't stop just because Obama made a pledge not to accept money from lobbyists. If anything they'll just make Moveon.org more prominent.

[motivez]

If he backed off his pledge to not accept money from lobbyists and other special interests, you'd have a point.. but his campaign is financed through and through by the people

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by motivez

If he backed off his pledge to not accept money from lobbyists and other special interests, you'd have a point.. but his campaign is financed through and through by the people

His primary campaign was. But his general election wasn't supposed to be. That was his pledge and his promise.

[nbiggershaft]

Originally Posted by motivez

The law seems pretty clear to me, but I'm sure Bush's FEC wont be too apt to go after McCain.

Perhaps you can reference it for me then. I was reviewing the law earlier and didn't find anything that would lead me to that conclusion.

[motivez]

Please point out the significant differences between taking public financing and how Obama is raising money by opting out

The answer is there's no significant differences, because his donors are normal people like you and me, instead of special interests like the ones running McCain's campaign

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by motivez

Please point out the significant differences between taking public financing and how Obama is raising money by opting out

The answer is there's no significant differences, because his donors are normal people like you and me, instead of special interests like the ones running McCain's campaign

The difference is that he was for public financing before because he felt it was best to keep presidential candidates on a level playing field rather than buying the presidency. And again, just because the special interests aren't going to be donating directly to Obama doesn't mean they won't be assisting the campaign in the same way they'll be assisting McCain, this doesn't change that. If he accepted public financing he wouldn't be accepting them either. It was a great ethical step for him to not accept their donations in the primary and to continue to do so in the future, but he also made a promise for a new kind of politics. He shouldn't turn that off just because it seems he can get further without it. He wasn't accepting special interest money when he made the pledge for public financing. He made the promise, and it's wrong for him to break it. He had all the information then that he has now as far as what kind of campaign he would be up against. He specifically mentioned McCain in his promises. The only thing that's changed is he's realized he can potentially bring in a significantly larger amount of campaign cash if he breaks his promise.

[motivez]

On a level playing field with a candidate who's also not going to opt into the system, who had no interest in any kind of agreement when approached by the Obama camp? Give me a break

His pledge was to seek an agreement with the Republican candidate.

You've sidestepped the issue of what's different about him raising money from individuals in an open, transparent way while refusing money from lobbyists and special interests

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by motivez

On a level playing field with a candidate who's also not going to opt into the system, who had no interest in any kind of agreement when approached by the Obama camp? Give me a break

His pledge was to seek an agreement with the Republican candidate.

You've sidestepped the issue of what's different about him raising money from individuals in an open, transparent way while refusing money from lobbyists and special interests

McCain has no interest in having both himself and Obama running off public financing?

And I mentioned the money raising issue numerous times. It's also fairly irrelevant to the promises he made. It's turned into an excuse for his broken promise. He knew he would likely be running against McCain and he geared his promises reflecting a campaign against McCain who has throughout his career been a supporter of the public financing system. Obama knew there would be 527 groups just like he benefits from moveon.org. He made the choice to stand on principle and support the public financing system. Yet when it came time to put his money where his mouth is (literally) he backed out. We can list all the reasons he's giving now, but they're inexcusable because those factors were just as real as when he made the promise numerous times. Those factors didn't stop him from making the pledge. He stood on principle for something and he backed out when it wasn't politically beneficial for him. That's a problem.

[motivez]

Paste the direct text of this "promise" please

[Scrum]

Originally Posted by JaJae

His primary campaign was. But his general election wasn't supposed to be. That was his pledge and his promise.

Where did he pledge and promise?

All I ever saw was a quote from over a year ago saying he would pursue an agreement with the Republican candidate.


The only reason this is a big deal now is because of how much money Obama is raising compared to McCain. If McCain were able to raise that much, nobody would even talk about it.

[nbiggershaft]

Originally Posted by motivez

On a level playing field with a candidate who's also not going to opt into the system, who had no interest in any kind of agreement when approached by the Obama camp? Give me a break

"Obama's Republican opponent, John McCain, will participate in the public financing system, which this year will provide $84 million in taxpayer funds to candidates who agree to limit their spending to that amount. Obama is expected to raise many times more than that."


We've been talking about this on this board even for some time, check you facts. McCain has wanted the public financing agreement consistently that Obama talked about during the primaries. Check your facts man.

[motivez]

Last I read he was approached by the Obama camp and was not interested in some type of agreement on public financing, I guess that's changed

Even so, it changes nothing. Obama's campaign will be financed by individuals, the ultimate definition of a campaign financed by "the public" .. while we can expect McCain's to be financed by lobbyists and other special interests.. and in addition to that, tax payer money.

[motivez]

Here's the letter the FEC sent to McCain, there are reference numbers in it:

http://www.fec.gov/press/press2008/FECtoMcCain.PDF