Portion below; whole thing here:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/368221_thomassononline25.html
The real reason for opting out of the public financing was that his network of supporters that helped him win the nomination would contribute far more than the $85 million public fund limit for each candidate, prompting one reporter to suggest that he was for public financing in 2006 before his candidacy and will be for it again in 2009 after the race. Recent estimates are that he will raise and spend some $300 million before the voters go to the polls in November even though his May numbers were only a few thousand dollars more than McCain's. Both have raised $22 million plus.
Obama's decision could have a sizable impact in an atmosphere where money has increasingly become the fuel of a successful campaign. McCain urged him to reconsider and honor his commitment to accept public funding. But the ability to spend huge amounts on television advertising early and sustain that through the next four months is extremely important and obviously too tempting to ignore given his ability to raise funds. Obama ads began running in Washington and elsewhere over the weekend, and he plans an extended and costly 50-state strategy.
Arcane matters of campaign finance normally bring a big yawn from voters interested in other issues like the economy and war. That probably would be true in this case except that it seems to be the first crack in Obama's superior, at times almost holier than thou, presentation. If he can break a pledge with such ease, can he be trusted to keep his promises in other areas?
The fact is that both candidates, on the issues at least, have made and will continue to make promises they can't possibly keep and if they could would further bankrupt the country. That's just the way of American politics where pledging to bring about wholesale change is just standard procedure. Most voters accept that. Failures can be explained away as the pledges having been a good idea at the time.
But Obama's quick switch in this case and the unbelievable explanations are pretty easily defined as disingenuous. Far better that he had just said from the beginning that, "it's the money." It leaves the impression that perhaps Obama is not quite the renaissance politician he and his supporters claim he is. That might not have been the case had he said from the start that he was going to press every advantage he could find. Earl Long once said that in politics, "We use everything we can get our hands on."
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