We are the ones Barack Obama has been waiting for…to fund his
campaign.
Such was the essence of the video message Obama supporters woke
up to find in their e-boxes yesterday morning, the freshman senator
from Illinois casually announcing he would forgo public funds
(along with the accompanying spending cap) and urging viewers also
to “declare your independence” — by sending him money.
The first and most shameful effect of Obama’s announcement,
unfortunately, was to set Republican Party apparatchiks a-crowing
from every rooftop about the moral necessity of campaign finance
reform and public financing of campaigns, as the McCain camp
bemoaned the “far-reaching and extraordinary consequences” of
Obama’s decision. Really, though, despite the attempt to update
Jeffersonian rhetoric for Generation Emasculation — sadly, raising
one’s own campaign money rather than hitting up the government
apparently counts as bold insurrection in America, circa 2008 —
how revolutionary was Obama’s move or the rhetoric accompanying
it?
Not very, actually, to those who recall the grand emancipation
of Dr. Howard Dean in the long-ago winter of twenty-ought-three,
when the former Vermont Governor announced he was skipping out on
public financing for the primary season with a press release
entitled, “The Tea is in the Harbor,” declaring the move as — wait
for it — a “new Declaration of Independence.”
Although Obama is the first candidate to skirt the sytem in the
general election since Watergate, the similarities remain
striking. Obama, while earnestly supporting “a robust system of
public financing of elections,” nonetheless has been forced to
abandon his beautiful dream by those “who’ve become masters at
gaming this broken system.” In 2003 Dean, likewise, reminded
perhaps confused supporters, “We support public financing, but the
unabashed actions of this president to thwart our democratic
processes with a flood of special interests money have us forced to
abandon a broken system.”
THERE IS NOTHING NEW under the sun, at least not when it comes to
copping tired lines from old campaigns and backtracking to suit the
needs of the moment. (See also Obama’s positions on Iraq,
gay
rights and healthcare
reform.) After all, as late as last November Obama insisted on
a Common Cause questionnaire that he intended to “stay within the
public financing system for the general election.” Now flush with
cash, Obama simply shrugs off the hypocrisy and says, “This is our
moment and our country is depending on us.” Don’t question the hero
when he’s working his magic — that’s the old
politics!
Repercussions? Don’t hold your breath. Common Cause, a supposed
watchdog group with the tagline “Holding Power Accountable,” issued
a press release slapping Obama with a minor
“demerit” for betraying his word — before celebrating him as a
true “reformer” who has “excited record numbers of small donors to
contribute and participate in the political process.”
The free pass is no surprise. With the right enemies, anything
is possible. Dean justified his own reversal as a necessary
component of building “the only campaign that can stop [the]
outrage” of a Bush campaign determined to sell “our democracy so
they can crush their Democratic opponent.” Suddenly his still-warm
warning to John Kerry and John Edwards — any move to forgo public
financing would be “a huge issue. I think most Democrats believe in
campaign finance reform,” Dean had said — became a lot less huge
to Bush-addled liberals eager to be avenged.
Part of this process of muddying the principle waters is to
foist a calculated campaign decision off on supporters as somehow
something supporters had foisted on the
candidate. Hence, before announcing he would kick off the next
phase of the American Revolution by providing his campaign a little
extra walking around money, Dean held a referendum on his website.
Accept matching public financing or go it alone, the choice was his
disciples’ to make. Granted, Dean felt compelled to warn his flock
that to accept federal matching funds was to accept that “the
greatest grassroots movement in the history of presidential
politics will be stopped from raising money almost immediately,”
and, thus, “the fate of this campaign rests in your hands, and I
believe the future of our American democracy” rested on their
decision. But, you know, just go ahead and do what you believe is
right.
Ultimately, only 15 percent of participating Deaniacs voted to
dismantle American democracy, spray Weed-B-Gone on the hero-blades
of the grassroots movement and hand the election over to King
George XLIII. The rest chose to fight on the side of angels,
realizing, as has Obama, that they’d rather bring a gun to
the Republicans’ knife fight. A triumphant Dean could finally
afford the thousands of orange knit caps and throat lozenges
necessary for his “Perfect Storm” in Iowa. Barack Obama — a
different kind of politician, TM — sees no need for a show
election, but frames his announcement as if one had been conducted.
“With this decision this campaign is in your hands in a way that no
campaign has ever been before,” he said. Exploiting a fundraising
advantage becomes a noble sacrifice to the little people.
NOT THAT THERE IS any reason to believe there would have been much
dissent if Obama had held a vote. Dean raised the specter of Bush,
Crusher of Democrats, Destroyer of Democracy. (Come to think of it,
how are we even having another election without President
Dean at the helm?) Obama now takes the cue and invokes a John
McCain, “fueled by contributions from Washington lobbyists and
special interest PACs” — cheaper than gas, one supposes —
unwilling to “stop the smears and attacks from his allies running
so-called 527 groups, who will spend millions and millions of
dollars in unlimited donations.” It’s a long enough string of
ominous keywords to put any Obama enthusiasts with a troubled soul
on their knees begging him to jettison public money. There will be
time for beneficence when it’s shining out from the Oval Office
windows.
“When we’ve been told that we’re not ready or that we shouldn’t
try or that we can’t, generations of Americans have responded with
a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people,” Obama declared
after his New Hampshire primary loss. “Yes. We. Can.”
So don’t tell the slayer of an already dead dragon that he can’t have all the money he
wants.
Yes. He. Can.
