The USA Today On Obama's Waffling On Public Financing

"Sen. Barack Obama sells himself as the candidate of 'change,' the candidate of reform, the man who'll shake up Washington's business-as-usual mentality. But before the Illinois Democrat has even gotten on the November ballot, he is waffling on one of his earliest reform pledges ..." USA Today

Champion Of Reform Adds Asterisks To Money Pledge
Obama wavers on public funding; Clinton has nerve to criticize him.
Editorial
USA Today
February 20, 2008

Sen. Barack Obama sells himself as the candidate of "change," the candidate of reform, the man who'll shake up Washington's business-as-usual mentality.

But before the Illinois Democrat has even gotten on the November ballot, he is waffling on one of his earliest reform pledges: to pursue public financing rather than gather money from high rollers and special interests if he is his party's nominee.

Early last year, Obama's campaign sought and won a ruling from federal election officials to make it easier for candidates to use the public financing system in the general election. Asked three months ago by the Midwest Democracy Network whether he would participate in public financing, Obama wrote: "Yes. ... If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election."
Sounds straightforward. But now that Obama is raising money at a clip of more than $1 million a day and, if he is the Democratic candidate, could enjoy a large financial advantage over presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, he's adding asterisks and provisos just like, well, some Washington politician.

Last week, Obama's campaign manager Bill Burton told the Associated Press that public financing was "an option" that's still "on the table." Obama said, "It would be presumptuous of me to say now that I'm locking myself into something when I don't even know if the other side is going to agree to it."

McCain also pledged last March to use public financing in the general election if his opponent would. McCain, a leader in campaign-finance reform just as Obama has been, reiterated his pledge last week. So this doesn't need to be a very complicated discussion, although the opposing view below suggests it could well turn into one.

Public financing, in which presidential candidates use money raised by a $3-per-taxpayer checkoff on income tax returns, is designed to limit the influence of special interests. Congress strengthened the system in the wake of the Watergate scandals, which revealed corporations buying favors and wealthy individuals buying ambassadorships with huge campaign donations.

Since those reforms, every presidential candidate has bought into the system for the general election. Sen. Hillary Clinton was quick to pounce on Obama's wavering for what her aides called "a pretty big flip-flop." That takes some chutzpah, because Clinton was the first candidate to signal last year that she would forgo public financing in the fall if she won the Democratic nomination. On Tuesday, an aide said Clinton hasn't "ruled out" public financing.

The presidential public financing system is outdated and in need of repair. Even when candidates agree to stay within its limits - each would get $85 million for the general election - their campaigns are aided by billions of dollars spent by political parties and supposedly "independent" groups on their behalf. But if Washington is going to become less vulnerable to special interests, public financing needs to be expanded to congressional campaigns, not abandoned.

McCain or Obama could be the kind of reformer who fixes the system. But that won't happen if jockeying for partisan advantage takes precedence over doing the right thing.

Read The USA Today Editorial: "Champion Of Reform Adds Asterisks To Money Pledge"
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