There's a lot of people pissing and moaning about the alleged flip-flop on the part of Senator Barack Obama regarding his opting out of public funds for the General Election.
Now, I am all for holding Obama's feet to the fire when the criticism is warranted (such as in the case of Telco Immunity), but the amount of concern trolling going on in certain circles is simply astounding. With all the hand-wringing going on you'd think that Obama just announced that he was going to take Joe Lieberman as his running mate and run on a platform of expanding the Patriot Act for another 20 years.
I think most people are smart enough to figure out what these people's motives are, but just in case anyone here is actually buying into the faux outrage being expressed by a small but vocal group of community members here at MyDD, I will attempt to set the record straight....
Obama hasn't flipped on Public Funds.
"If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly-financed general election," - Barack Obama, November 2007
Obama said from the beginning that he would attempt to work out an agreement with the GOP nominee to ensure that outside groups (527's) wouldn't destroy the nature of a public-funded campaign, thus preserving a publicly-financed general election. When 527 groups are already on record as saying that they will spend millions on McCain's behalf and on the flip-side, Obama has requested that groups like MoveOn do NOT spend on his behalf, then it's obvious to anyone but a fucking McCain Troll that McLame was NOT willing to enter any such agreement.
"We have no doubt there will be a robust effort by 527s to paint Obama in the way his opponents would like the country to see him," - Robert Gibbs, Obama Campaign spokesperson
Therefore rather than enter into the GE with two hands tied behind his back, Obama decided to forgo public funds, because at the end of the day, the only person that would have benefited from Obama accepting public funds is John McCain.
This decision enables Obama to compete in traditionally "red" states such as Colorado, Virginia and North Carolina.
This is not a reversal of position. Senator Obama never "promised" to use public funds in the General Election. Never. His position was to pursue an agreement with the GOP nominee. The agreement could not be reached.
If the concern trolls around here were as concerned with winning in November as they are with nursing their fragile and battered egos, then they would surely realize that.
Alas, the modus operandi of the concerned folk around here is, I believe, to take the "sheen" off of Obama. To make him out to be "just another politician". And to what end? So they can say "I told you so". It's a self-fulfilling prophesy that is being perpetuated only by those who are either:
- Still mad that "their" candidate did not win the nomination
- McCain supporters posing as concerned Democrats
The facts are clear. Obama did not reverse his position, as his stated position was never a promise to accept public funds.
UPDATE: This diary is now on the Recommended List. Thanks to everyone who helped get it up there for more people to see! Here is a quote from the full answer Sen. Obama gave when asked about accepting public funds in Nov of 2007, which I believe helps flesh out the details of what kind of "agreement" Obama was talking about:"My plan requires both major party candidates to agree on a fundraising truce, return excess money from donors, and stay within the public financing system for the general election." - Sen. Barack Obama, Nov. 2007
UPDATE x2: Here's a cartoon that was posted to my diary (cross-posted at DKos) by community member Lava20, which I thought was very fitting for the subject matter at hand:
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