Everybody — from the MSM to the hyperbolic blogosphere — is having conniptions about Obama’s decision to opt out of public financing for the general election. (David Brooks at the NY Times is particularly frothy.)
I just have a couple of thoughts:
1. Obama’s fundraising capabilities were not manifest when the public campaign financing topic initially came up. However, it’s been obvious for quite awhile that the options for the Obama campaign via current and ongoing campaign contributions were going to vastly outnumber those available via public financing funds.
2. The difference is likely to be so enormous, in fact, that Obama would have branded himself a drooling fool to opt in.
Along with those two little tidbits, I should add that in all my years paying taxes, I have never (to my memory) checked that little box asking if I wanted to contribute to the campaign finance fund. I was always concerned that my piddly donation would partially fund some horrendous candidate with whom I agreed on virtually nothing.
Given the level of excitement and engagement this election cycle is generating, I rather prefer this outcome.
Did he break his word? Probably… but holding someone to a statement made under circumstances that bear little resemblance to the current reality is asking for a rigid ideologue.
No thanks. Been there, done that — recently.