Obama: Public finance system 'creaky'
Posted: Friday, April 11, 2008 11:08 AM by Domenico Montanaro
From NBC/NJ’s Aswini Anburajan
Obama labeled the public financing system as "creaky" in a press conference today, saying that the number of people opting into the system has dropped dramatically compared to those individuals who are giving money over the Internet.
"I think that it is creaky,” he said, “and needs to be reformed if it's going to work.”
He added, "We know that the check-off system has been declining in participation, and as a consequence, the amount of money raised through the public financing system may be substantially lower than the amount of money that can be raised through small donations over the Internet, which presents candidates, then, with some pretty tough decisions in terms of how they want to move forward if they want to compete in as many states as possible."
At a fundraiser in Washington, D.C., this week, Obama said the small donations to his campaign had created a "parallel public financing system," a comment that was interpreted as a potential rationale for him to opt out of the public financing system should he become the nominee. Today he said that the comments were not intended to be taken in that way.
"Really what I was trying to suggest is that through the Internet and the enthusiasm of this campaign,” he said, “we've created a model for being able to compete at the highest levels of politics without being dependent on big-moneyed interests. And I think that's a real positive.”
But the lingering question is whether Obama, will make good on his pledge to accept public funds. At the start of his presidential campaign he had said that he would opt into the public financing system, but since his campaign has proven the potency of the Internet to raise millions of dollars, his position has appeared to shift. Obama has said if he were to win the nomination, he would then talk with Republican nominee McCain on a possible solution.
"My position on public financing continues to be the same as I talked about a month and a half ago or two months ago when this first came up," Obama said of his position today. "I would like to see a system preserved, and I intend, if I am the nominee, to have conversations with Sen. McCain about how to move forward in a way that doesn't allow third parties to overwhelm the system."
The ability of either candidate to limit third-party groups remains circumspect. Obama said he was "committed" to talking to McCain about the issue, but acknowledged that there may be little he or McCain could do.
"Whether or not we can pull it off,” he said, “I don't know.”
Since Obama's position has seemingly shifted on whether he will take public funds or not, he has opened himself up to criticism from Republicans and editorial boards.
A Wall Street Journal editorial today hit Obama on his acceptance of money from pharmaceutical executives, saying that he had received more donations from that industry’s firms than any other candidate, for example. A second story in the Washington Post detailed how Obama has courted bundlers, some of whom have vested political interests that could be at odds with the senator's positions.
Asked about the role of bundlers in his campaign today, Obama said their main job was raising money not making policy.
"They are very active, though they don't interact much with me,” he said. “They interact mostly with each other. They are not as a general rule part of my day-to-day policy or advisory committee, although there are some people who have raised money for me who are also prominent business leaders. And so, for example, if we were putting forward a economic plan, and there was some expertise there, we might tap into it. But they're not as a general rule part of our policy making apparatus, or determining the course of the campaign. Their focus is on raising money.”
And does this show the rigors of the campaign trail? Obama was asked why he had not checked the box to donate three dollars to the public financing system on his own tax returns.
"You know, I have always checked off $3 in the past, so I'm going to have to talk to my accountant," he said. "That may have been an oversight or a mistake. In all my previous years, I have, so I should find out what's going on there. This may be a situation where my accountant, through oversight, didn't do it."
*** UPDATE *** The McCain campaign responds on public financing: “We will always welcome an open discussion with Barack Obama, but he has clearly committed to public financing in the general election should he win his Party’s nomination, and we expect him to keep his word. Any hedging or clever language from Senator Obama seems more like something you would read in a predatory home-loan, not the ‘Audacity of Hope.’” -- Tucker Bounds, John McCain 2008
