Politics

Obama Presidential Campaign…Not a Great Start

Hey, what’s this shotgun doing…*blam* Ouch! My foot!
–Obama Campaign (repeatedly)

Put me firmly on the side of not understanding why the Obama campaign would opt out of the Federal funding system. Well, I mean I understand why just not why.

You have a candidate that has (correctly) campaigned on getting money out of politics and campaigning. So, what does he do when he’s facing whether or not to actually get the money out? He opts out of the Presidential Campaign Fund to take private money instead. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

The Obama campaign has just handed an issue bow-tied and gift-wrapped to the McCain campaign. Both candidates had strong records on campaign finance reform. Obama refused money from PACs in the primary and has said he will forego PAC money in the general election. McCain was cosponsor of the McCain-Feingold Act, which was a valiant effort until it was gutted by the FEC.

Now, Obama can no longer run on the campaign finance platform because not only has he made himself a whore for campaign donations, he’s actually gone farther than any candidate since Nixon in refusing to abide by the limits set by the Presidential Campaign Fund because $83 million is simply not enough to run 3 months of a Presidential campaign (from the convention to the election). The Obama campaign believes (probably correctly) that it can raise more than $83 million and so it will take the PR hit (it thinks) to get its hands on the money.

I think that the campaign didn’t think this through. Whatever money is tied up in the Presidential race will (potentially) be lost in down ticket races. If someone is going to give $100 to a campaign, would they give it to a Presidential campaign or their local Congresscritter? For someone that was supposed to be good for down ticket campaigns it’s not very bright to steal their money by foregoing free money just because you can. I’d be pissed if I was a Democrat fighting in a Republican district. This may be the first chance in two decades to win the seat, but they can’t do it without cash in the current system. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Maybe it’s a bigger deal to me than most? I’m willing to concede that, but I’ve had my doubts about Obama since voting for him (albeit reluctantly) in the primary. Now, we’ve got a big issue that he’s campaigned hard on and when it comes down to brass tacks, he not only turns into the typical politician but is willing to go further than anyone else has in complete contradiction to his stated beliefs. To say I’m not impressed is an understatement. I’m leaning more and more to Mickey Mouse for President.

On a slightly related note, I have to give McCain credit for his recent campaign speeches. He’s certainly not taking the GWB route of only talking to friendly audiences. In the last two days, he’s campaigned for offshore drilling in the place where the worst offshore oil rig spill happened 40 years ago and he’s campaigned for the Yucca Mountain nuclear disposal site while in Nevada. He might be turning into President Bush in his policies, but at least he has the guts to go in front of people that might not totally approve of the message.

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© 2008 Kirk Walsh.