http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120787159467506509.html?
mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks
REVIEW & OUTLOOK
Obama's Switcheroo
April 11, 2008
Barack Obama declared this week that he has created a "parallel
public financing system." Come again? Let him explain: Under parallel
public financing, "the American people decide if they want to support
a campaign, they can get on the Internet and finance it."
Up to this moment, "public" financing has meant taking money from the
federal government for the general Presidential election. Senator
Obama's new system is public, because "the public" sends him the
money.
Here's the translation: In November, Mr. Obama said he would accept
public financing for the general campaign if John McCain committed to
public funds. Now he doesn't want to be tied down by the spending
limits attached to public funds. This is embarrassing. Solution: Call
his Internet contributors a "parallel public financing" system.
What he is proposing sounds pretty much like what the system would
look like if campaign-finance restrictions didn't exist. But they do
exist, thanks to reformers like him. Shortly after the candidate made
his remarks, a spokesman hurried to say it "was not a policy
statement," but merely a description of the nature of his donor base.
Barack Obama raised $40 million in the month of March – twice the $20
million Hillary Clinton's campaign took in. His totals are now more
than $230 million.
Good for him. But Mr. Obama is unmistakably talking about abandoning
the virtuous world that campaign finance reformers have in mind. The
reformers' agenda has always been to limit "the influence of money"
in politics, and do so by capping the amount candidates can spend.
This naturally appealed to Mr. Obama when he was the underdog. But
now that he's top dog, standing on principle isn't as appealing as
the prospect of a colossal war chest.
Mr. Obama has also made much of his campaign's pledge not to accept
money from political action committees, raising the majority of his
funds from small private donations. PACs typically make up less than
1% of overall election donations to Presidential candidates, so
that's no sacrifice.
Industry PACs may not give directly to his campaign, but employees of
industries may do so, and many of his contributors have come from
executives and their spouses. For example, Mr. Obama leads all
candidates in donations from the pharmaceutical industry and
commercial banks, among other industries. According to the Center for
Responsive Politics, which tracks fundraising in elections, Mr. Obama
has received $528,765 from people in the pharmaceutical industry and
$1,380,108 from commercial banks. He comes in second to Mrs. Clinton
in donations from lawyers with $13,690,170, just over a million shy
of her total.
There is in fact a real parallel financing system already in place
and ready to support Mr. Obama. It's called George Soros and so-
called 527 groups such as the Democrat-supporting Fund for America or
the newly named Progressive Media USA. Progressive Media recently
announced plans for a $40 million, four-month campaign against Mr.
McCain, and that's only one group in the game.
Mr. Obama once said he would "aggressively pursue an agreement with
the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general
election." Mr. McCain has already taken steps toward public financing
in the general election. So now Mr. Obama wants to preserve his
reputation as a reformer while exploiting his new financial
advantage. We are all beginning to learn how expansive the meaning
of "change" is.
------------------------------------
*****************************************
Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm
*****************************************
Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf
*****************************************
MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.
*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm
*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm
*****************************************
Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/
*****************************************
MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari
http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm
*****************************************
German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm
*****************************************
Some FAQ's about Mukto-Mona:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/new_site/mukto-mona/faq_mm.htm
****************************************************
VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/
****************************************************
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
-Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:mukto-mona-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:mukto-mona-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
mukto-mona-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: