So my preference would be for Obama to opt-in, take the $89 million, and then opt out to raise more money. But If Obama wants to forgo that money (which by anyone's standards is a lit of money), I'm not going to whine about Obama giving up that money, because I think what he is doing is the right thing to do.

For the sake of argument… if I were to give you that Obama went back on his word, I would ask, “So what? I think public financing is meant to limit lobbyists' and big corporate donors' influence and Obama is doing just that.” The DNC is no longer accepting money from lobbyists (at Obama's insistence) and some of the 527s in bed with the Dems are disbanding.

So who's worse? A senator who champions campaign finance reform, commits to public financing and then breaks the law? Or a senator who supports campaign finance reform, says he will opt-in if his opponent does, but then opts out because he doesn't have an agreement with his opponent? And then goes on to dissuade the influence of lobbyists and 527s?

But getting back to the argument…. I still ask “So what?” I could care less about what Obama answered on some obscure questionnaire when he has consistently given the same answer as he did on that questionnaire- and elaborated on that answer numerous times in public. What he has done does not go against his well-known stance.

I still don't see any outrage at McCain for breaking the law over this very same issue. This just shows that McCain really is like George Bush- that he feels he is above the law. McCain's only response to Obama's decision is to pound Obama's decision as hard as he possibly can to deflect any legitimate attention away from his own illegal actions (in the primary).

StockBoySF, yes McCain did the in/out thing and used his lawyer to save his butt.

Marlow unless you can show PROOF that McCain and Obama did negotiate and agreed to go with only public financing then you can't say Obama went back on his word. If so, why did McCain wait until AFTER Obama opted out to announce it?

McCain's already played this game back in February. Now the McCain apologists throw a temper tantrum because Obama didn't fall for the trap.

Straight ahead with blinders on provides a very narrow view. It gives a very poor idea of where the horse is headed.

Machiavelli? Are you saving Hitler for your next comment?

Stepping back for a moment, this is politics, after all. A saint would have dirty wings and a bent halo after a political campaign in the US.
It's unfortunate, very unfortuante, that we can't even comment on it more dispassionately.
You and I have polar outlooks. What you find to commend about Obama is what I try forgive. I forgive a lot of ''flip-flopping' (how I hate that word!!) for both
There is a difference in style and character, however, which is why I suppport Obama.
Obama announced his opt-out. McCain wrorked it in the shadows.
Obama's cmpaign financing strategy has resulted in decreasing quid-pro-quo campaign donations., not only for his campaign but for the DNC. That may actually work against the DNC, but clearly principle was put ahead of immediate gain and it was done by Obama at considerable risk. for the Dem Party.
What has McCain's campaign contributed to setting a good example for future campaigns?

I was one of those ''crying out for public financing'. Now I see much more fully how it can be gamed, thanks to McCain. You can call that a flip-flop, but I see it as a change of mind when new information comes in.
I still hope a workable public financing system can be installed, because it makes me sick to see how much money is wasted on negative and smear ads. There has got to be better ways to spend money and participate in politics than this!
If a workable new ssytem emerges, I'll flip-flop again to support it. That's an example of good flip-flopping, so the hoopla over Obama's doesn't impress me much. CONTEXT, you know.
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The worst ruling the SC has made, IMO, is the one equating money with free speech, because that has led to ordinary people having little or no voice in campaigns. Obama's small contributors have regained some of their free speech.
They have a sense that they matter, which is the glue that holds any society together.

Stockboy, the key questionaire response of Obama is below. Again, note there is no “Maybe” or talk of “negotiation” or “527s” in Obama's response. He was asked simply “if” his opponent opted for public financing would Obama.

Obama's response: “Yes.”

I would point out to Runasim — we were debating this last night — that at the time Obama gave this response his campaign pumped it up as a pledge and a big sign of Obama's committment.
However, if was only after Obama started raising big money hand over fist…it was THEN they began backpedalling and looking for a way out.

Obama is going back on his word. Even the NYT…no friend of McCain's…concedes this.

I agree with Jazz Shaw's post. Rove would be at home in the Obama campaign. The McCain campaign is too flatfooted and second-guessing itself before being devious to be Rove's home.

“In Response To A 2007 Questionnaire, Obama Said He Would Accept Public Funding In General Election. Question: “If you are nominated for President in 2008 and your major opponents agree to forgo private funding in the general election campaign, will you participate in the presidential public financing system?” Obama: “Yes. I have been a long-time advocate for public financing of campaigns combined with free television and radio time as a way to reduce the influence of moneyed special interests.” (Sen. Barack Obama, “Presidential Candidate Questionnaire,” Midwest Democracy Network, http://www.commoncause.org, 11/27/07) “

Runasim, McCain was behind the only real substantive campaign financing bill in recent years. Has his name all over it in fact. What has Obama done…talk about a bill he would like to pass.

And you criticize McCain for being just hot air…and Obama is fixing the problem?

Runasim…the NYT is right (even a broken clock is right twice a day) and you are wrong…Obama dropping out means the end of campaign financing for the foreseeable future.

When in the next cycle or so the GOP big donors are enthused, and massive corporate donations flood in from bigwigs enraged at the liberal hegemony in Washington…the Democrats will be once again crying out for the need for public financing when the GOP has the advantage.

I must say, I underestimated Obama. He is a piece of work indeed.

Machiavelli would have been impressed. He says one thing, does another…and makes people love him for it.

He may just be ruthless enough to be a fine President.

McCain did't “opt out” of public financing for the primary. He accepted the public financing when his campaign was in trouble (and the concomitant responsibilites and restrictions). McCain clearly benefited from the public financing arrangement because he was able to get on ballots in states (such as Ohio) that he did not have the resources to to do so on his own. He then dumped the public financing when it held him back without getting FEC approval. Admittedly the FEC did not have a quorum to make a determination, but McCain clearly went back not only on his word, but what he agreed to do and what he participated in.

As runasim points out McCain (through his lawyer) used squirrely arguments to exit the public financing… including calling the FEC/system unconstitutional…. For a guy who has championed public financing in the past, that's a pretty bold (and Rovian) statement.

I really think McCain is receiving a free pass on his public financing shenanigans, especially given how some in the press is spinning Obama's opt out as him going back on his word (I haven't seen any evidence to the contrary).

What McCain did in the primary for public financing is a crime, punishable with prison time (up to five years, if I recall correctly). I'm sure McCain is glad the FEC does not have a quorum to hear McCain's actions on this matter…. Wouldn't it be delicious if McCain became president but served his term in prison?

Yep, politics was a high-minded pursuit of Gentleman-Scholars, dedicated to Public Service, prior to Rove. No one would have even consider casting rumors against one's Respected and Chivalrous opponent, nor packing a ballot box. he invented push-polling and innuendo, and is so obviously the Anti-Christ (or for us athiests, the Anti-Non-Deity)

Oh, to return to those glorious yesteryears of Civil Discourse and Debate in our Politicians.

During the primaries McCain played a very complicated game of opting in, out, in, out. When The Rep. head of the FEC warned him that he was breeking the law, McCain (read: his lawyer) came up with a lot of squirrely counter arguments, the punchline being that the FEC itself was unconstitutional.
That sounds uncomfortably like Bush's lawyer Yoo finding reasons why the law and international agreements don't need to be obeyed. This is why many people believe in the possibility of Bush's 3rd term

One can make a good case for McCain's campaign funds behavior forcing Obama to opt out. Only an idiot would trust Mccain after the primaries, and Obma is not an idiot.

While everyone is making political hay over this, Obama has a bill to try to fix the public financing law. Again, McCain talks , people swallow what he says without researching the background, but Obama acts in an effort o fix the problem.

The most Rovian aspect of this is the go-for-the-jugular reaction, without a moment's effort to look into it beyond flashing headlines and panting commentary..

McCain is faulted for not attacking Obama more? What if that resulted in more scrtutiny of McCains own campaign finanicng and in-out-in history?
Maybe McCain just recognized his own vulnerability when he saw it.

Then there's the Rove bomb, which is the new Hitler bomb. Every despot, even the pathetic Saddam Hussein is continually likened to Hitler, and now every time we don't like some aspect of a campaign, it will be “Rovian”.

Neither Obama nor McCain have been completely pure in this campaign, but so-far both have been MILES away from anything like the Rovian campaigns of 2000 and 2004. It's still early and we'll see who's campaign really smells like Karl Rove's work this fall.

Besides, McCain already lost the high-ground when he opted out of Public financing during the primary: http://themoderatevoice.com/at-tmv/newsweek-blo...

Show me where McCain promised Obama that he'd run on public financing for the general election BEFORE Obama's announcement yesterday?