McCain Urges Obama To “Keep His Word” On Public Finances

Speaking in Dallas yesterday, McCain called on Sen. Obama to “keep his word” on public financing, saying:

“The fact is that he (Obama) is saying one thing and he’s doing another. I mean, that’s indisputable.

“He’s always talking in his speeches about how we need to keep our word with the American people. Please keep your word to the American people on the commitment you made in writing.”

As he’s done on other occasions, McCain also opened the door to not accepting public financing himself, adding:

“If Sen. Obama is the nominee and decides not to take public financing then obviously we have to evaluate our options on it.  It’s possible that I still will (take public funds) and it’s possible that I won’t.”

In short, the background on this situation is as follows:

In February 2007, Obama asked the FEC if it would be possible for him to accept money for the general election without disqualifying him for opting into the public financing system later in the process if he were to return the money.  The FEC ruled that this would be acceptable.  Thereby allowing Obama to preserve the option of opting into the public financing system for the general election.

When Obama made the request to the FEC, Obama Campaign spokesman, Bill Burton, said:

“Senator Obama has long been a proponent of public financing of campaigns and we are asking the FEC to take a step that could preserve the public financing option for the party’s nominees”

And, a lawyer for the Obama Campaign, added:

“Should both major party nominees elect to receive public funding, this would preserve the public financing system, now in danger of collapse.”

The primary purpose for Obama’s request to the FEC was to allow for both parties candidates to come to a truce for the general election, the NY Times summarizes: 

 

But Mr. Obama, campaigning on pledges to clean up politics, argued in his filing with the commission that the public financing system had insulated candidates from a corrupting dependence on big donors. He asserted that the system could be preserved for the general election through bipartisan agreement if party nominees returned early contributions.

The plausibility of such an agreement is not clear. One nominee is likely to have a financial edge on the other at the outset of the campaign, and accepting public financing would mean relinquishing that edge.

 

Following the FEC’s ruling on the matter on March 1, 2007, McCain accepted the Obama campaign’s proposal to work out a bipartisan arrangement regarding public financing.  McCain’s campaign manager at the time, Terry Nelson, said:

“Should John McCain win the Republican nomination, we will agree to accept public financing in the general election, if the Democratic nominee agrees to do the same.”

At the time, this was welcomed news for the Obama campaign and the public financing system.  Obama spokesman, Bill Burton, responded to McCain’s acceptance by saying:

 

“We hope that each of the Republican candidates pledges to do the same.”

Mr. Burton added that if nominated Mr. Obama would “aggressively pursue an agreement” with whoever was his opponent.

In September 2007, responded “yes” to a survey question from Midwest Democracy Network that asked: “If you are nominated for President in 2008 and your major opponents agree to forgo private funding in the general election campaign, will you participate in the presidential public financing system?.” In addition to his “yes” response, Obama stated:

In February 2007, I proposed a novel way to preserve the strength of the public financing system in the 2008 election. My plan requires both major party candidates to agree on a fundraising truce, return excess money from donors, and stay within the public financing system for the general election. My proposal followed announcements by some presidential candidates that they would forgo public financing so they could raise unlimited funds in the general election. The Federal Election Commission ruled the proposal legal, and Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has already pledged to accept this fundraising pledge. If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election.

So, whenever McCain criticizes Obama on this matter, the aforementioned events are what he is referring to.  Now, it’s worth noting a few things:

 

• First, Obama isn’t the nominee yet, so indeed, it would be somewhat premature for him to start working out the details of a public financing agreement (at least publicly).  
• Second, from the details available on the subject and requests from the Obama campaign back in 2007 for Republicans to “pledge” to Obama’s proposal, it does follow that Obama did promise to support public financing in some way and that a complete reversal on the matter would certainly be contrary to earlier expressed sentiments.  That said, there are legitimate additional considerations.  The public financing system simply doesn’t address the problem of independent groups, nor does it provide the candidate enough resources to properly respond.  Accordingly, Obama has a right to cautious on this issue.
• Third, it’s also worth adding that when the whole public financing proposal initially came about in early 2007, it was at a time when Obama was working hard to separate himself from his Democratic rivals.  This was one of the issues that his campaign used to do that (John Edwards responded shortly thereafter by opting into the public finance system, but that’s not particularly relevant to this discussion).  Indeed, it would seem that part of the mess that Obama is currently in regarding this issue is the result of a political move to score points and criticize his opposition.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that Obama doesn’t care about public financing or that he wasn’t/is sincere.  I’m simply saying that the timing of Obama’s proposal to the FEC was political and it’s important for everyone to understand that.
• Fourth, it’s also pretty clear that Obama will work out some type of arrangement with John McCain (or at least attempt to).  So, the fuss at this point is mainly political showmanship for McCain in an attempt to get some attention in a conversation dominated by Obama-Clinton while scoring some political points by attacking a rival early on.  Moreover, given McCain’s extreme financial disadvantage, he doesn’t really have a choice.  He has to criticize Obama on this issue in hopes of getting some kind of concession, however small, that could close the financial gap.  But, still, any fuss created over this issue at this time is nothing more than fodder.
• Lastly, Obama’s handling of this issue, like his handling of Florida and Michigan in the primaries, is important for him and will have general election consequences.  Accordingly, the Obama campaign should be cautious and sincere in their handling of this matter.  If they mishandle this, they could be creating an additional general election problem for themselves that otherwise didn’t need to be there.

 

 

 

 

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