Author Of McCain-Feingold: Obama Smart To Opt Out Of Public Funds

One of the principal authors of the most significant campaign finance legislation since Watergate said he was neither "outraged" nor "surprised" with Barack Obama's decision to forgo public funding in the general election.

Norm Ornstein, a fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute and substantial contributor to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act -- also known as the "McCain-Feingold" campaign finance legislation -- said on Thursday that Obama's move was "pragmatically the right decision to make," and that, if the Senator had not chosen that path, "I would have sued him for political malpractice."

"What I told a bunch of people a few weeks ago," said Ornstein, "is that while it would be nice if he decided he felt honor bound to stay within the system and take the money, if he did so I might join a group of people who sued him for political malpractice. When you have the ability to raise the kind of money that he could raise and do it without selling your soul to spend all the time between now and the election on fundraisers, your goal is to win an election and not turn your back on the people voting. There will be outraged editorials and McCain will be justifiably pissed. But it was pragmatically the right decision for him to make."

Orstein told The Huffington Post that he had advised the Obama campaign about the issue of public finance a "long time ago" but not as the decision approached. "I don't think it was a slam dunk decision six months ago, in part because people didn't have any idea what kind of reach he could have, how many people he could bring into his camp."

In defending Obama, Orstein became the sole author of McCain-Feingold to offer sympathy for a position that, at least in the spirit, goes against the purpose of the campaign finance legislation. McCain, unsurprisingly, called Obama's pronouncement "a big deal."

"He has completely reversed himself and gone back, not on his word to me, but the commitment he made to the American people," said the Senator.

While Feingold, a stalwart champion of public funds, expressed a slightly less outraged sense of disappointment.

"This is not a good decision," said the Wisconsin Democrat. "While the current public financing system for the presidential primaries is broken, the system for the general election is not. The entire system must be updated."

Comments

[the964kid]

As an Obama donor I don't want him to limit himself and Im glad he's publicly funding himself with contributions from people like me.

[JimWalsh]

No More Lobbyist!!!!!!

Senator Obama has said many times, "Lobbyist will not run my White House."

Getting rid of the extremely negative impact of lobbyist is one of the major reasons I support Senator Obama.

McCain has flip-flopped on many things. Yesterday he told the citizens of Missouri about a gas tax holiday he knows Congress will never approve.

Prior to McCain's event in Missouri yesterday, Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri said in a conference call that McCain's plan would cost the state 6,000 jobs and $167 million in federal gas tax dollars for Missouri's roadways.

"The people of Missouri can smell a phony deal a mile away," she said. "Frankly, that’s what John McCain’s gas tax is. He knew it wasn’t going to have any meaningful impact on people’s real pain – our dependence on foreign oil."

McCaskill said it was "a promise he knew he would never have to deliver on."

The "Could McCain Have Come Up with a More Ill-Suited Economic Advisor Than Phil Gramm?" is one of many examples for the damage caused by lobbyist specifically gas prices and the subprime housing damage.

http://www.alternet.org/election08/87999/?cID=936047#c936047

[Liberal2]

Heh. Obama is delivering the change he promises, he's turning into a republican.

And he's promising to help the illegals Screw the citizen, the legal resident, and the person who's applied to enter the US legally but the annual quota is filled.

Obama is indeed bringing change....for the worse.

[sweetmoses]

Please explain how not taking taxpayer money is turning into a Republican.

[sweetmoses]

And please try to use proper grammar this time. Thank you.

[going2ireland]

In your dreams!

[IraqVet04]

Soooooooo, when is John McCain going to accept public funds? How can McCain slam Obama when he himself is not going to accept public financing?

[frugorfoto]

WAIT A MINUTE>>AS OF THIS MOMENT HE OBAMA RENEGED ON THIS

[JCTaylor]

Opting out huh? My my my, how quickley they fall from grace.

[rmetz74]

How is this a fall from grace?

[rmetz74]

No reply. Shocking.

[obamagramma]

Refusing public (taxpayer) money is something Obama should be PROUD of, and libertarians welcome!

[TalkingPolitics]

check out Mccain contradicting himself http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E2BzZmsosc

[brizzle]

Everytime I read a story about Obama which quotes McCain, I suddenly feel sorry for McCain for being so rigid and out-of-touch. Not sorry enough to vote for him...just enough to feel sympathy for his pitiful campaign. Even his words make him sound old...

[BigLib]

A couple of thoughts — one, how long is Obama going to whine about the RNC and McCain being "fueled by contributions from Washington lobbyists and special interest PACs" until he deals with the log in his own eye. Second, public financing and lobbyist money are yet additional examples of how Obama is on both sides of every issue — Iraq, the Cuban embargo, a divided Jerusalem, NAFTA et al. Is the press at all interested in pointing this out?

[going2ireland]

You say so little about items that have been gone over with a fine tooth comb. None of what you purport to be has any bearing on O at all. Sorry to burst your balloon.

[ynp7]

Any system where john mccain has a chance is broken, so let's not take any risks and bury that guy.