Counter Scold: Public financing overblown

No one cares about public financing. Let me repeat: no one cares about public financing. The GOP may think they can score points off Barack Obama's decision to opt out of public financing, but hardly anyone outside the beltway is listening. True, the Scold's own Horace Johnson was so peeved he blasted Obama in a Daily Scold, but it is also true that public campaign funding is one of the un-sexiest issues to holler about. Try to make the case to someone who does not sleep and breathe politics-- the story is not a barn burner. Really, try: "Obama said he would take federal matching funds, but instead he is opting out and using just his own donations. Plus he said he would sit down with John McCain and work out and deal but instead..." Too late, they fell asleep. Even if the merits of the case were truly damning of Obama (and they certainly are not) no one is going to pay attention. Is this the best they can do? If the Right wants any juice in this race, they might as well return to screaming about Obama's "terrorist fist jab".

On Sunday's Meet the Press, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said the American public will not soon forget Obama's reversal. Well, of course not, they do not know what the hell he is talking about. Campaign financing has never really resonated with the public. As recently as 2006, California voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposition aimed at near total transparency in fundraising. People just do not care that much.

Except, of course, when they sense wrongdoing. Sure, things like the Jack Abramoff and Tom Delay scandals pissed off Americans-- because there was a real sense that corruption had stained the very way our leaders did business. There was subversion of the law; it was a clear-cut case of right and wrong to ordinary Americans. This is why, in the end, the Republicans will not be able to paint Obama with his decision. They can huff and puff "Obama broke his word!" all they want, but there is no sense of underlying corruption. The public will not be shocked by the revelation that a politician reversed himself to make a winning play. Without a tangible "wrong" to hit Obama on, the charges will not stick. His money is coming from small donors and working Americans, the issue makes Obama look good.

The statement Obama signed stated that he would either take federal money or work out an arrangement with John McCain. Sure, he did not do either one. But the document also said something else: he was doing this to limit the influence of special interests. Obama is doing that without public financing; he cannot find himself beholden to the hidden agendas of so many people without special political influence.

Senator Graham made another comment on that Meet the Press. Essentially, he said that this reversal proved Obama was ruthless. Obama, according to the South Carolina senator "wants to win; will do anything to win". Good! This is why Obama could be president to begin with.

Obama is not the messiah of Starbucks baristas that the Left wants him to be. He is a smart, centrist, hard-nosed politician that knows how to make people love him. Yes, he is less willing to compromise his standards than the Clintons, but he can count to 270 just as good as the Republicans. He is too good of a politician to turn down a nearly endless supply of money on his mission to save this country from John McCain.

Oh, one last thing: Forgoing public financing means Obama is not costing the taxpayers money. How is that for spin?