sozobe wrote:It's not as clear as I'd like it to be that Obama pursued the agreement and McCain made sure it didn't happen. I get the 527 argument but don't totally buy it.
McCain IS accepting public financing, which might be strategic (stiff-arm Obama and then, once Obama makes the decision to turn it down, go ahead and accept it to make Obama look bad) but I think is probably just an indication that McCain would've been open to it if Obama really pressed for it.
I sighed when I found out Obama decided to turn down public financing. I'd probably have sighed if he had decided to accept it. I wish he hadn't gotten himself in this position (rock/hard place) with his original rhetoric. But I think this is probably right:
Marc Ambinder wrote: The upshot here is that Obama is going to have at least $100 million to spend that the RNC and John McCain and whatever 527s exist will not. Add in the Democrats' labor spending, and that advantage is probably at least $200 million. Financial disparities tend not to matter unless they are huge, and this year, they are huge. McCain will need all that much more of a moment in a debate, or a major Obama gaffe, to perservere.
Actually I don't fault Obama for inspiring the kinds of contributions he is getting, though he is rather specious when he claims that almost all is from 'grass roots' when a closer inspection suggests the special interests are funneling the money in per usual, they're just funneling it in small 'legal' amounts through various operatives. Again that is part of the game and by itself is not damning.
On this flipflop, the issue isn't really the funding at all, but a pattern I see developing with Obama when he says something on one occasion, and then when it is expedient to not have said that, the line is becoming more and more predictable in that 'he didn't mean it the way it was interpreted' or what he really was saying was. . .or what he meant was. . . ." I think he can get away with that only so often before there is significant eyebrow raising and some confidence is eroded. That is evenmoreso true if Cyclop and his ilk keep trying to make those kinds of arguments for him when the evidence is clearly otherwise.
I would respect Obama more if he stood up and said that once he realized how many people wanted to give him money, that previous pledge didn't look so good and he decided he couldn't realistically keep it, apologize to McCain, and move on. But alas, he didn't do that and, at least on that score, proved himself to be just another politician who will put self serving opportunity ahead of principle and insult our intelligence in the process.
I honestly wanted him to be a better kind of candidate. I think we're all going to be disapppointed there, however. but he nevertheless has time to prove himself to be a better man than some want him to be.
