Campaign Finance: Obama’s First Moment of Truth?

The lofty idealism of Obama Nation will face a litmus test if he becomes the Democratic nominee. He has said previously that he would accept public financing if the as then undetermined Republican opponent would do the same. That was before Obama raised $32 million this month alone and expanded his pool of campaign contributors to 650,000. Many of those people contribute online in small amounts so they can be repeatedly tapped for additional money at virtually no expense to the campaign.

John McCain upped the ante recently and said he would do just that. A strong advocate of campaign finance reform, McCain’s name (along with liberal democrat Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold) is on the most recent major campaign finance reform law. Sticking with his principles on this issue has cost McCain support within segments of his own party that view this as a restriction on First Amendment rights of free speech.

So if you’re Obama, what do you do? If he takes public financing, he agrees to restrict spending to about Candidates who accept public funding are eligible for about $85 million, which is tens of millions of dollars less than he is likely to raise privately. So far, Obama has not faced serious challenges in terms of matching his actions to his rhetoric. This issue could prove to be the first of many such ethical dilemmas and may provide some additional clues as to Obama’s priorities.

My guess is that if Obama is the democratic nominee, he’ll reject public financing, endure the hit on reversing himself and take the money. As vitally important as campaign finance reform is, it often seems as if there’s a serious disconnect on this issue with many voters. A lot of people seem to recoil at the idea that funding for a political campaign should come out of their pocket. They generally fail to see that the special interests with deep pockets that are now the lifeblood of a corrupt system cost them far more in the long run.

Perhaps Obama will surprise us, but I doubt it. He’s a good politician and in terms of balancing risks and benefits, this would be a very difficult juncture to side with ethics and reform rather than doing what it takes to win.