Thursday, June 19, 2008

Money Don't Buy Everything, It's True



But what it don't buy, Barack Obama can't use. He wants the money.





Rather, he doesn't want the public money. He's decided to forego public financing for his presidential campaign and all the strictures that come with it. He is now free to milk the suckers, er, I mean his devoted supporters for as much money as he can. And thus does Barack Obama strike a mortal blow to the most cherished legacy of his opponent, John McCain. McCain-Feingold, he dead.





Mr. McCain will now be hoist on his own petard. McCain faces a choice - either accept his own handiwork and get his tuchus handed to him, or eschew his legacy and face the calumny that will be heaped upon him for abandoning his most beloved accomplishment. As much as I want McCain to win, he richly deserves this dilemma.





While I imagine the party line is that I should be upset at Obama's own blindingly obvious hypocrisy on this issue, I have to admit that I just don't care that much about it. One of the main reasons I opposed McCain in the primaries is that McCain-Feingold is one of the worst things in American politics, because it is a limit on political speech. It assumes that money in politics is the root of all evil. It's actually the opposite - too much politics in money. Or as P. J. O'Rourke so memorably put it, as long as buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first thing to be bought and sold are legislators.





It's become increasingly clear in recent weeks that Barack Obama is Michael Corleone in a Bobby Kennedy suit. He'll throw longtime supporters under the bus without batting an eye. He'll throw long-held and noisly-proclaimed principles under the bus as well. All this should be abhorrent and should disqualify him from office, but he'll get a pass on all of it. It's remarkable, really. The only way that McCain can beat this guy is to abandon his principles as well, on campaign finance, on environmentalism, on all of that.





Just a prediction: before the election, one of the major contenders for the office of President will call for drilling in ANWR. I'll bet that it's Obama.



Cross-posted at True North

9 comments:

Gino said...

mc cain is having trouble raising money. he has no choice but to accept the fed money and its spending caps, or he would be capped ,by default, at far less.

Strolling Amok said...

"McCain faces a choice - either accept his own handiwork and get his tuchus handed to him, or eschew his legacy and face the calumny that will be heaped upon him for abandoning his most beloved accomplishment."
Heh. This post makes me happy - in much the same way that watching a cute kitten eviscerate a rat makes me happy. I feel all warm an fuzzy just now.

Mr. D said...

Fair point, Gino. My guess is that McCain will need a lot more money than he could get from his system, though.

Glad to make you happy, SA. Just know that your guy isn't a cute kitten. And some day he'll turn on you and he won't think twice about it.

Anonymous said...

We've got wonderful choices this time around: An inexperienced hyporcrite who looks good is a suit, or an experienced hypocrite. We truly have met the enemy and it is us.

This is Gerald Ford vs. Jimmy Carter all over again. I do think both of those men had more morals than our current options!

Right Hook said...

Nice post. As much as McCain deserves whatever he gets as a result of his stupid legislation the country does not deserve an Obama presidency.

McCain-Feingold has never worked as allegedly intended. President Bush's failure to veto it instead of rolling the dice that the Supreme Court would kill it was a major miscalculation on his part.

My fear is that instead of just repealing this unconstitutional load of horse crap Congress will "fix" it by additional rules, regulations, and big government edict. The only way to fix this abomination is in the same way a puppy or kitten gets "fixed" with a trip to the vet.

Obama will get away with anything he wants to in regard to campaign financing as the media will run cover for him. Anyone bold enough to question his practices will be quickly neutralized through slick double-talk and spin and, if necessary, the playing of the race card.

Gino said...

actually, both guys are campaigning according to mc cain-fiengold.

Mr. D said...

How so, Gino?

Gino said...

as per mccain-fiengold,the law says you can spend unlimited money if you refuse public funds, or accept public funds with spending caps.

mc cain-fiengold is the law of the land.

obama and jonnymac are just using two different methods of following the same law.

the problem for jonnymac i that he cant find as many donors to match obama thanks to his own donation limits.

Mr. D said...

Here's the thing, Gino - since he's going around the structure of the law, he may be in technical compliance (your point) but he's rendered the structure itself a dead letter (my point). Can we agree on that much?

I appreciate the challenge!