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Dan Spencer
Right Side Politics ExaminerDan Spencer has been blogging at, and as, California Yankee since 2003. He lives in Connecticut and practices law in New York. Here he will discuss the politics of the Right.
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Obama's The First
3 comments
by Dan Spencer, Right Side Politics Examiner
By changing his mind today, Obama becomes the first presidential candidate to opt out of the public financing since the system was enacted as part of the 1974 reforms demanded by public reaction to the Watergate Scandal.
In November 2007, Obama answered "Yes" to Common Cause when asked "If you are nominated for President in 2008 and your major opponents agree to forgo private funding in the general election campaign, will you participate in the presidential public financing system?"
According to Agence France-Presse, Obama "pledged last year to work 'aggressively' with the Republicans on a deal to preserve public financing, under which candidates limit their spending in return for matching funds from the federal Treasury."
As the McCain campaign correctly notes, this broken Obama pledge "will have far-reaching and extraordinary consequences that will weaken and undermine the public financing system."
Obama has once again revealed himself to be just another typical politician who will do and say whatever is most expedient for Barack Obama.
We should expect nothing more than such expediency from Obama. After all, he started this campaign by expediently breaking his word that he would not run for president in 2008: On January 22, 2006, Obama stated flat out he wouldn't seek the presidency in 2008:
MR. RUSSERT: There’s been enormous speculation about your political future, Senator. The man you succeeded in the Senate, Peter Fitzgerald, a Republican, said this recently. “I think there’s a very good chance that Senator Obama is on the Democratic ticket in 2008 as the vice presidential nominee.” Do you agree?Can we count on anything Obama says? I mean, other than the fact that he will change his mind.
SEN. OBAMA: No. You know, I can’t speculate on those kinds of things. What I have said is that, you know, I’m not focused on running for higher office, I’m focused on doing the job that the people of Illinois just sent me to do.
MR. RUSSERT: But there seems to be an evolution in your thinking. This is what you told the Chicago Tribune last month: “Have you ruled out running for another office before your term is up?” Obama answer: “It’s not something I anticipate doing.” But when we talked back in November of ‘04 after your election I said, “There’s been enormous speculation about your political future. Will you serve your six-year term as United States senator from Illinois?” Obama: “Absolutely.”
SEN. OBAMA: I will serve out my full six-year term. You know, Tim, if you get asked enough, sooner or later you get weary and you start looking for new ways of saying things. But my thinking has not changed.
MR. RUSSERT: So you will not run for president or vice president in 2008?
SEN. OBAMA: I will not.
Topics: 2008 Presidential Campaign , Obama , 2008 Election , 2008 Presidential Election
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