Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Change you can believe in?

So, Mr. Obama will renege on his promise and be the first presidential candidate to refuse public funding for the general election.
You can't really argue with his logic. He can make (I guess 'raise' is the approved term) and spend more money outside the system than the $85M public funding maximum.
A tiny voice inside my head wishes that he wouldn't break the chain, but in any contest between public interest and self interest, self interest will win.
But to stand there in front of all of us (on videotape) and explain that he's doing it for "us" -- "So join me, and declare your independence from this broken system, and let's build the first general election campaign that's truly funded by the American people" -- goes beyond the pale.
Mr. Obama, are you out of your mind? Do not lie to me. You have no record of reaching across the aisle to put the nation's interest above rank-and-file democratic concerns. You have no record of making hard calls that might alienate your core constituency. Your positions on the issues of the day do not show any pattern of a "post-partisan new way of thinking".
So when you stand there and glibly lie -- and a lie is exactly what it is -- about your rationale, you demean yourself and you insult me.
You demean the hope that a lot of people are placing in you.
Your message promises much more than you are delivering. And if you can't tell the truth now, imagine how hard it will be next year?

And a few hours after I post this, we get the following from the Washington Post.