By now we've all heard countless stories on Obama's decision to opt-out of public campaign financing... And countless conservative attacks for being that most dreaded of things- a "flip-flopper"... And countless explanations from be Obama campaign about how he wants to fix a broken system and his campaign relies on small doners.
I call bullshit.
By agreeing to use public financing for their campaigns the candidates agree to something very important to modern political practice- they agree to an equal playing field. Public financing ensures that both candidates will have the same amount of money to spend on their campaign. This year it's a sum of about 90 million dollars. This system was put into action because somewhere along the lines the party traditionally bad at raising money- the Democrats- called foul on the party traditionally good at raising money- the Republicans- for winning campaigns by sheer ability to spend more money.
You can see evidence of this everywhere. Cindy McCain, though herself very rich, can not spend her own money on her husband's campaign because that would be unfair. She hasn't been able to do this since the first time he ran for senate in Arizona. There are limits on what individual donors can give to a campaign. Special interest groups like the healthcare or tobacco lobbies have near unlimited resources and could easily out spend the other candidate by a huge margin and effectively buy the election.
But that's not how we do things here. The American people don't want to be bought. Obama says his campaign relies on "small donors". Bullshit. Do you think Oprah, who managed to bundle $50,000 for Obama is a "small donor"? Do you think paying $30,000 per plate at a fundraising dinner is a small donation? Do you think he's holding special events for Hillary Clinton's moneymakers so that they'll fork over $2,300 each? Don't kid yourself.
I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with these fundraising tactics and I know both parties use them. I'm saying that it's BULLSHIT for Obama to pretend he's doing something noble by opting out of the system. He's not. He plans to buy this election by outspending McCain, just like he used to demonize conservatives for doing.
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2 comments:
Nate here.
I had no idea you were a conservative! Holy shit! Well, If you honestly think MC Kain would be a better choice than someone who has youth, change, and social empowerment on their side, more power to ya, but I'm going to have to respectfully disagree!
Of course Obama's grassroots campaign isn't exactly what it pretends to be, but look at the other side of the picture. As Wu Tang Slangz, Cash Rules Everything Around Me, and when it comes down to it, politics is all a money game, just like everything else in America. However, by appealing to people on an individual level and asking them to contribute individually rather than through some monolithic corpo-psuedo-christian edifice, I'm of the firm belief that Obama has put the ball back in the court of the individual voter.
Anyways your post here is very refreshing and I absolutely agree with the fundamental content, if not the context in which it is used. Cheers!
-Nate Johns
But do you really think it should be a money game? I don't. And do you really believe Oprah is any better than something like Focus on the Family? I don't.
And do you really, honestly think he's managed to raise 200 million dollars because millions of Sally Smith the fourth graders are mailing him their 10$ allowance? Come on. You know better than that.
I'll admit that I'm not comfortable with Christian lobbyists being able to buy their way into a political system that prides itself on separation of church and state, but I don't think it's fair to say that what's wrong for Christians is okay for Oprah. If it's not okay for groups you don't like to do it I don't see how you can in good conscience say it's fine when you agree with the political agenda of the group bundling money.
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