The Political Whore

The theme of the presidential election this week is becoming less one of change or no change and is becoming the week of the flip-flop.

Barack Obama announced he will not use public financing of the presidential campaign in this year’s general election. In a questionnaire last year, Obama said he would pursue public financing for the general election, which would cap spending for both candidates at $85 million.

From the New York Times in Feb. 2008:

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 — The staff of the Federal Election Commission has drafted an opinion that would allow the two major parties’ presidential nominees to adopt what amounts to a fund-raising truce.

The draft opinion would allow the nominees, if both agreed, to return contributions they had solicited for the general election campaign and limit themselves to public financing for it instead.

The opinion is a response to an inquiry by Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination. It is an indication of how the commission, which released the document Thursday, is likely to rule on the idea. The commissioners are expected to issue their decision after a meeting next Thursday.

Candidates say the amount of public financing — it would be about $85 million per nominee next year — has failed to keep pace not only with campaign costs but also with the potential for private contributions, meaning a candidate who does not seek donations early on risks falling far behind.

But Mr. Obama, campaigning on pledges to clean up politics, argued in his filing with the commission that the public financing system had insulated candidates from a corrupting dependence on big donors. He asserted that the system could be preserved for the general election through bipartisan agreement if party nominees returned early contributions.

The plausibility of such an agreement is not clear. One nominee is likely to have a financial edge on the other at the outset of the campaign, and accepting public financing would mean relinquishing that edge.

Obama’s goal was apparently to keep the election honest by keeping out money from special interest groups.

Strategically, eschewing public money and the restrictions placed on it is a good call for the Obama campaign. Obama is a fund-raising powerhouse. If he agrees to the public money and the $85 million cap that would restricted him to, his campaign would be vulnerable to the big campaign money of Republican-friendly 527 groups as well as the huge funds the Republican National Party could use to campaign against him.

The Democratic National Party has a smaller bank roll to defend against this inevitable onslaught. Obama obviously feels his campaign would be better off using the money he could raise versus the limited public money.

It is understandable Obama would flip-flop on this issue, considering he does want to win in November and all. It is disappointing, however, that he is now going back against his previous decision. He should have considered this possibility earlier so he didn’t have to change go back on his word.

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