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Barack Obama Opts out of Public Financing


John-in-KC

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Read it here...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/20/us/politics/20obamacnd.html?hp

 

You can googlenews it too.

 

Cue Cabaret...

 

EMCEE]

Money makes the world go around

The world go around

The world go around

Money makes the world go around

It makes the world go 'round.

 

A mark, a yen, a buck, or a pound

A buck or a pound

A buck or a pound

Is all that makes the world go around,

That clinking clanking sound

Can make the world go 'round.

 

[GIRLS]

Money money money money money money Money money money money money money

Money money money money money money Money money

 

 

...

It makes the world go round!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For that matter, cue Candide...

 

ALL

Now onto Aristotle!

 

PANGLOSS

Mankind is one; All men are brothers!

 

STUDENTS:

As you'd have done, do unto others!

 

PANGLOSS

It's understood in this best of all possible worlds--

 

MAXIMILLIAN

All's for the good in this best of all possible worlds!(This message has been edited by John-in-KC)

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  • 1 month later...

That's what he says but it's all about power and control. Besides, at his age, if he's elected and only serves one term, he'll be a fairly young man with a pension of about $200,000 a year plus a couple a million in speaker's fees.

 

Being president is pretty lucrative.

 

 

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Well, McCain has done his share of flip flops too. Pretty nimble for an old guy! I find it interesting that one side can view new evidence or circumstances and revise their policy because of that (and that's OK), but when the other side does it it's flip flopping. Goes both ways. What an entertaining political year.

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When my wife and used to have "discussions" over something that I had done which had displeased her, I'd point out that she had done the exact same thing a few weeks earlier. Her response was always, "If you can't see the difference, I can't explain it to you."

 

The same is true in politics.

 

Your side makes carefully considered changes, the other side flip-flops.

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Whether its Flip Flops or Comtemplative Changes, its part of the process.

 

To win the Democratic Nomination one must run very hard to the left, and appease that portion of the party to win Primaries, the Republican candidate usually (!) has to run very strong to the right to win Republican Primaries.

 

Then after the nomination has been secured, the candidates have to run back to the middle to get the centrist vote that actually elects the president. Remember Bill Clinton's promise to allow gays in the military, he becomes president and gives us "Don't Ask Don't Tell". The gays were horrified, but what were they going to do, vote for Bob Dole in the nest election?

 

I think, although I am sure I will be told if wrong, no party has more that 33% registered voters. So, 33% are Democrats, Republicans and Independents. We know, theoretically, who the Democrats and Republicans will vote for, its the uncommitted 33% that determine the eventual victor. And that requires a lot of changing of attitudes on both candidates part.

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A colleague and I were discussing the upcoming election and this year's unique political dynamics. He observed that several otherwise stalwart Democrats with whom he's spoken have come up with surprising reasons why they will not vote at all in November. So I asked him , "Because Obama's Black?" He replied, "Well, either that, or it's the color of his skin ..."

 

 

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To me America is great because of the liberty it provides to all. Many countries ban Neo-Nazi movements, "cult" religions, among other things. In the United States such movements are protected and sometimes even flourish. Americans are so free that they have the right to be prejudiced and vote accordingly.

 

If a citizen votes for a person for a reason. It is not up to me to judge them. That is American liberty.

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We all want our elected officials at any level of government to be willing to listen and reconsider their established positions based on new information. However, BO's flip on public campaign financing is really a gratuitous and opportunistic play to enable him to spend in excess of the public financing limits. He also has turned to the usual Hollywood suspects for substantial donations. That is one thing that puzzles me. How can an individual donate in excess of the established limits?

 

Personally I would repeal the campaign financing laws in their present form and require instantaneous disclosure of all donations on the internet. Let the voters decide if a candidate is accepting too much money from different interests.

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Be careful of trying to paint Obama with large special interest donations without tarring McCain with the same brush.

One reason Obama decided against the restrictions of public financing was his unprecedented ability to get small contributions from HUGE number of donors. Never has a campaign been funded like this and really takes the potency of the big dollar donations down a few notches.

But there will still be big dollar donors for both candidates and thier parties who will expect some payback after the election. Until we can ban all donations and go with a purely publicly financed election, they will always be there.

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McCain should be so lucky as to get big $ from big donors. The big donors made a decision over a year ago to put most of their bets on the Democrats this cycle. Both candidates are in an awkward position on this. Both want to claim to be the candidates of "change" yet both have reverted to conventional politics when it comes to fund raising. I happen to think that BO's flip is just more outrageous on this particular issue.

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