Obama rejects public financing for campaign; McCain attacks decision
The presumptive Democratic nominee calls the system 'broken,' reversing an earlier commitment made before he harnessed Internet fund-raising. The McCain camp derides his decision as politics as usual.
Democrat Barack Obama today rejected public financing for his presidential campaign, changing an earlier stand and becoming the first major party candidate to drop out of the system since it began after the Watergate scandal.
In a prepared statement, Obama said his campaign would give up more than $84 million that would have been available for the general election because he believes the public financing system is broken.
"It's not an easy decision, and especially because I support a robust system of public financing of elections," Obama said. "But the public financing of presidential elections as it exists today is broken, and we face opponents who've become masters at gaming this broken system."
Early in the primary season, Obama had said he would use public financing if his Republican opponent did. But that was before the presumptive Democratic nominee harnessed the Internet and became a fund-raising powerhouse.
His likely Republican opponent, John McCain, has been in the forefront of campaign finance reform and has taken steps to accept public funds in the general election. He immediately attacked Obama's decision.
"Today, Barack Obama has revealed himself to be just another typical politician who will do and say whatever is most expedient for Barack Obama," McCain's communications director, Jill Hazelbaker, said in a statement.
"The true test of a candidate for president is whether he will stand on principle and keep his word to the American people. Barack Obama has failed that test today, and his reversal of his promise to participate in the public finance system undermines his call for a new type of politics."
Republican National Committee Chairman Robert M. Duncan repeated that theme: "Clearly, Barack Obama is just another politician who is willing to do whatever benefits his own personal agenda."
But Obama blamed the McCain campaign for making it impossible to stay in the public financing system, which began in the 1970s when Congress passed laws designed to limit the power of private funds in shaping electoral politics.
"John McCain's campaign and the Republican National Committee are fueled by contributions from Washington lobbyists and special-interest PACs. And we've already seen that he's not going 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," Obama said.
