Obama's Broken Promise

The better I get to know Democratic Senator and Presidential Nominee Barack Obama, the more I disapprove of him. From his several "misspeakings" to his many questionable associations, I am developing quite a negative opinion of Obama. To be fair I was never a fan of his politics, but I liked the guy when he first burst onto the National scene. I think Obama has tarnished his reputation with many other Americans as well. Obama has now declined to take the public financing for his Presidential Campaign, reversing his earlier promise to the contrary.
85 million dollars in public money is available to each major party nominee during the fall Presidential Campaign, but they must agree to decline other contributions. Last year, Obama vowed to "aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election." It's not difficult to see why Obama broke his promise to accept the public campaign funds after he has already raised more than 265 million dollars as of the end of April. The fact that Obama now has seen that he can raise much more money than the 85 million in public funds does not justify going back on his word. Obama offered up his reasoning;
"It's not an easy decision, and especially because I support a robust system of public financing of elections, 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." That explanation does not cut it for me and hopefully many other Americans as well. The Democrats have raised plenty of money to spend on those soft money ads themselves. I do wonder if this issue will not be seriously looked at by voters who are focused on so many other vital issues. That would be a shame because trust is an important issue. For me it comes down to this; all politicians tell lies.
This is one of those big lies that really should get our attention. Obama committed himself to an important issue of campaign finance reform, and then abandoned that position over money. Obama then called that reform. So I guess reform is whatever Obama says it is at any given moment. The truth is that Obama has been holding the banner of change high for his entire campaign. Change is supposed to be what he is all about. Instead of change, Obama is delivering to the American people the absolute worst brand of "as usual politics". So much for change we can believe in.