Obama's Day With His Wealthier Supporters, Changes Tune on Public Financing
Posted on Wed Apr 09, 2008 at 12:10:00 PM EST
Tags: Barack Obama, 2008 (all tags)
Bump and Update: ABC's Jake Tapper and Politico report Obama may be opting out of public financing.
Tonight at a fundraiser in Washington, D.C., at the National Museum of Women in the Arts -- at a $2,300-per-person event for 200 people held before a $1,000-per-person reception for 350 people -- Obama previewed his argument to justify this possible future discarding of a principle.We have created a parallel public financing system where the American people decide if they want to support a campaign they can get on the Internet and finance it, and they will have as much access and influence over the course and direction of our campaign that has traditionally been reserved for the wealthy and the powerful," Obama said.
Is he breaking a pledge?
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Original Post
By all accounts, Barack Obama raises a lot of money in small donations. But he also raises big bucks from the wealthy. Here's a photojournalist account of his fundraiser at the Getty Mansion in San Francisco this week -- one of four such events that day.
The photos alone are worth the look -- this one is my favorite for how it so captures San Francisco.
I don't really have a political comment here -- all campaigns need the wealthy donor parties -- but the blogger spent all day capturing the scene and did a very good job of it.
The blogger makes this point:
Obama's campaign slogan is "Change" -- declaring that he alone will change the way things are done in politics.
But what kind of "change" is this? The single most insidious aspect of American politics is that candidates often must pander to and do the bidding of the wealthiest Americans, who have the funds to get the candidate elected. It's so commonplace, we no longer think of it as "corruption," but that's basically what it is. So when Obama spends all day doing nothing but going to a series of private fundraisers populated exclusively by the wealthy, the only "change" I feel are the coins jangling at the bottom of my pocket.
And I don't like hypocrisy.
As I said above, I think all candidates need these wealthy donors. What do you think? Does this show hypocrisy or political reality?
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