Office of the Independent Blogger

Barack Obama officially announced his decision to opt-out of the public finance system for Presidential campaigns this morning, and I am deeply disillusioned by this decision. But before I comment on the decision itself, I want to comment on the manner in which it was announced to the public: not via press release, or in a speech, but in a video email. I can not begin to describe how angry that makes me. Listen, it is not proper etiquette to break up with some via text message and it is not acceptable to fire people over the phone, so it is most certainly not acceptable for a Presidential candidate to announce something such as this via email and then refuse to speak to the press about it.

Obama has previously indicated his support for public financing, once writing that he would work vigorously with the Republican candidate to make sure they can both work within that framework; he has spoken about it in his speeches, and has referred to himself recently as an “unabashed” supporter of campaign finance reform; he even put “Yes” down on paper when surveyed on this question by a political organization early in his campaign for President. Of course, Harry Truman once said that if a man’s word is no good, it isn’t made better on paper, and that appears to be the case here.

So, what happened that made Obama change his mind? Simple: he wants the opportunity to outspend John McCain by a ridiculous total, as he thinks it will make him President of the United States and Obama seems to believe that the ends will justify the means. The Presidency takes its toll on everyone who seeks it and especially those who obtain it, and Obama is willing to play this game the hard way for the sake of becoming President. This is not “hope” or “reform” but it is “change” — it’s a price change that he hopes we can all believe in. Well I don’t, and I think this is absolutely shameful. If I were McCain I’d hammer him as a fraud all year long. This is the same guy who has an ex-Friends of Barack club going because he is disloyal to friends, and he doesn’t stand true to his own stated principles, either.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 19th, 2008 at 6:49 pm and is filed under Outside Retort (Current Affairs).