
 |
|
May 13, 2013
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
|
| |
Jewish World Review
June 27, 2008
/ 24 Sivan 5768
Obama will do anything to win
By
Roger Simon
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Maybe it's because my supply has been used up, but I am having a hard time summoning outrage over a recent decision by Barack Obama that people tell me I am supposed to be outraged about.
Obama recently decided not to accept public financing of his general election campaign.
This means that instead of getting about $84 million in taxpayer funds for his campaign, Obama will raise the money from people who want to contribute to his campaign.
Those people will still be regulated by federal campaign laws nobody can give more than $2,300 and Obama's campaign says that 80 percent of all the funding he has received so far has come from contributions of $100 or less.
Obama is refusing public financing because he intends to raise way more money than $84 million. And this will put his Republican opponent, John McCain, at a disadvantage, if he sticks with public financing.
Money has always been extremely important to the Obama campaign. Way back in 2007, his record-breaking fundraising was what prompted the press to sit up and notice him. Money was, in the eyes of the media, what made Obama a "serious" candidate.
Money also bought Obama some very important things, such as the staff and advertising to compete in caucus states, which everybody thought Hillary Clinton was going to win, but that Obama ended up winning.
Having found that money impresses people and buys you cool stuff, Obama is now reluctant to give it up.
True, he had previously promised to "aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election," and now he is not going to do that.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is a big supporter of McCain, recently said of Obama's decision: "This is a game-changer in terms of the general election. This will not go unnoticed by the American people."
Except that it probably will. I am not saying that the American people are totally indifferent to how politicians raise their money. I suppose if you had a videotape of Obama or McCain actually sticking up a 7-Eleven to get campaign funds people might care enough for it to become a "game-changer."
But under one system the governments hands you the money to run your campaign, and under another system people give it to you. Is that a big deal?
Some say yes. They say that Obama has promised to be the candidate of "change" and this decision shows that he is not.
But I am not so sure. I think he is a changed and different kind of Democrat.
He is one who intends to win.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment on Roger Simon's column by clicking here.
Roger Simon Archives
© 2008, Creators Syndicate
|