By Any Means Necessary

Barack Obama has gone back on his word, Barack Obama is a hypocrite ... I couldn't be happier. With Obama turning down public financing, idealist can be heard saying, "Obama promised 'a new kind of politics.'" Well, let him get to that once he's in office.

As for myself, when I heard the news that Senator Obama had done what I'd hoped he'd do, I went to my window and -- to paraphrase Howard Beale -- yelled out, "I'm pleased as hell that Democrats aren't going to take it anymore!" After Swiftboating, Karl Rove, Willie Horton, Lee Atwater -- take it all the way back to Richard Nixon's upside-down, inside-out, "Bring Us Together," I'm thrilled to have a candidate who is a bit more Machiavelli and a little less moralist. Even much less a moralist. This is what the Bush administration has brought me to: "By any means necessary."

And -- comfort for the idealists -- Obama is practicing a "new kind of politics" -- relative to the norm -- in the tone of his campaigns. But -- campaign realpolitik -- that only makes the demand for truckloads of cash all the more essential. If Obama refuses to run 3 A.M style ads against McCain he'll need to spend every penny of $270 million. And, when McCain's allies come up with something that makes the Reverend Wright attacks seems quaint in comparison, he'll need a double that to defend himself. In short, every dollar spent being depraved equals three dollars spent being a "candidate for change."

Truth is, if what's necessary to win in November is some outright cheating, I'd be all for that, too. Maybe the ghosts of "Landslide Lyndon" and the Kennedy brothers will help out by stuffing ballot boxes in Texas and fixing vote totals in Chicago.

I don't mean it. I exaggerate ... maybe. I'm not sure. To paraphrase Joseph Welch talking to Joe McCarthy, maybe not until this moment have I gauged the full extent of my recklessness and -- at long last -- I have no decency.

If so I -- we -- need only remember Florida in 2000. "We should move on." We have -- too much. The election was stolen by a method so without precedent, so brazen, and confronting it was so unlikely to offer closure, let alone success, that even those who were horrified quickly turned the page. Forget the math, the hanging chads, the votes for Buchanan/ Gore, that sort of flim-flam Johnson and the Kennedys would have applauded. But in 2000 the Supreme Court sat in for Boss Tweed. That transgression alone easily justifies, to my thinking, the slight skullduggery of Obama's decision. The consequences of four years of John McCain in the White House? To my mind, that justifies even greater Machiavellian derring-do. If need be, let's get down in the mud.

Finally, I have heard the goofy idea that he -- Obama - -is "trying to buy the White House." The operative word is "he." Michael Bloomberg, Ross Perot, Steve Forbes, John Corzine are "he"s who opened up their checkbooks and tried -- sometimes successfully -- to buy an office. If the Obama campaign funds -- however obscenely huge they hopefully grow -- successfully brings a victory in November, it will be a "them" -- millions of contributors opening up their checkbooks -- who got the job done.

Comments

[Centaur]

Jonathan, I completely agree with you. And for those Obama detractors who are calling him a "flip-flopper", "going back on his word" and a "hypocrite", I say go right ahead. You can call him all those things if you want to but one thing you can't call him is DUMB and STUPID!. Obama will not be outgunned and outsmarted. As he's has said..he won't "bring a knife to a gunfight!'

[candycane]

Hes just not an honest man. Thats not ok with me.

[TommyMcCarthy]

While not an original Obama supporter, I back his desicision to forgo the federal campaign funds and limits, 100%.

One reason WORKABLE campaign finance reform remains so desperately needed, is to diminish the influence of Pac's 527's, bundlers, soft money contributiors, et. al to whom politicians are then beholden much more so than their overall constituents.

While it may prove unfortunate for future primary candidates that the Obama/Clinton contest so dramaticaly raised the stakes...the type of money Obama raises bodes VERY well for Democracy and citizen involvement in national affairs. If you like representative democracy, and at least ACCEPT our capitalist economy, millions of small donors (I've heard an average of 25$) spontaneously inspired by an inspirational candidate is as close to the TRUE democracy as is possible.
It's hard NOT to be inspired by the prospect of a President beholden NOT to the awl biddness, or the hedge-fund pirates but LITERALLY, for the 1st time in my lifetime TO THE PEOPLE....ordinary Americans!!! It's positively AWE-inspiring.

Every one of us now has the opportunity to be not only a pundit (as here on Huffpo, God love Arianna and her staff)......but , collectively as DONORS with REAL INFLUENCE on the process.

I intend to be one of those sinister out-of-state donors meddling in the affairs of at LEAST Minnesota and Kentucky by kicking in for Al Franken and anyone running against THE VERY FACE of Republican intransigence,...Sen. McConnell. Bright days ahead!!...........................tm

[returnofthejedi]

Ther have been many accusations thrown at Mr. Obama and his supporters about playing the race card. I for one could care less what card is played after witnessing swift boating of Kerry, Willie Horton tactics, stealing of elections etc. Republicans are the classic hypocrites. They have used every immoral tactic they can think of to mis inform, and demonize democrats while governing us straight to hell. I say whatever card that can be useful at getting these incompetent whiners hands off the levers of power in our government should be played and played well! And Anyways can you name a candidate that HASN'T played the race card since Abe Lincoln? Not because they want to but because race is still such a factor in this society it is a card that is in every deck. I wissh that was not true but you can't blame Mr.Obama and his supporters for that fact.

......BTW...........Where is my 40 acres!.........How's that for a race card!

[returnofthejedi]

I tottaly agree with Mr.Obama's decision to opt out of the broken public finance system. This grassroots campaign he is running ,which is largely supported by millions of small donors has turned out to be very succesful for him, so why would he not use it to his advantage.
? As I see it, thase millions of small donors represent the people that are tired of the big monied corporate lobbyist useing their money to keep destroying our democratic elections. It would almost be like betraying the people that support him to opt in to that system. Barack Obama represents the little guy, and there are far more of them than tere are millionaires that can afford $2,000 dinners and things like that. Obama has found a
way to materialize this reality into action and I might say he has done a masterful job.The republicans are upset that they can't match what is happening being that they pander to the wealthy. This is a revolution of sorts, and it is time for mainstreet's concerns to be heard over wallstreet's. Lord knows millionaires have been well represented this last 8 years!

[downwithbs]

Re "...fixing vote totals in Chicago": a conservative friend of mine likes to say that Nixon was a far more gracious man than the Democrats of today because, after all, he didn't contest the alleged vote-fixing of the Daley political machine in Chicago. I've heard many right-wing commentators echo this sentiment as well. The fact is that John F. Kennedy would have won the 1960 election even WITHOUT Illinois' 27 electoral votes. The Florida of 2000, however, is a different story.

[Ahyoka]

I see that the hateful BO crowd is STILL booing and bashing Hillary even AFTER they got their way!(by hook or crook btw) I think it is way too soon for Hillary to campaign for him when he can't even get his sychophantic supporters to understand that she is out of the running and helping him now. Are they going to boo her when she is at one of his moronic feel-goody-'change' rallies??? Now HE is going back on his word and hoping he can buy the job. I AM SO GLAD I HAD THE SENSE TO VOTE FOR HILLARY. SHE IS THE ONE WE NEED AND IF HE IS JUST GOING TO BE A HYPOCRITE AND PRACTICE THE SAME OLD GAMES TO WIN AT ALL COST THEN the WHY shouldn't it be a Clinton in there???? THEY have PROVED they are good stewards of the WH and they know how to BEAT Republicans.

[SanityClaus]

And I see that the hateful HC crowd is STILL booing and bashing O even after she was beaten (even though she fought by hook or crook btw). I think it is way too soon for O to help her pay down her debt amassed because her ardent supporters couldn't be bothered to make even tiny donations to her failed campaign. Are HC supporters going to boo O when he turns up to help the rich lady get out of debt?

I am so glad I had the sense to vote for O. HC supporters openly admit that she practices the same old games to win at all cost. And BC PROVED that he would violate the people's trust while in office and that he knew how to beat Republicans, although his abrasive and divisive wife nearly derailed his campaign.

[Nonamnesiac]

Obama was right to reject the so-called public financing. Americans just ignore the fact that their elected politicians all simply run begging operations all year long, every day of every year -- begging from the corporations that give them money in exchange for their votes. That's every poltician of both parties, except those few who are so wealthy they don't have to take the money.

So under public financing, McCain-Feingold and the rest, these poltiicians of both parties are simply on the active payroll of the corporations and vote for the interests of those corporations in return for the money donated to their campaigns, and the personal guarantees of future wealth after they leave Congress or the White House. That explains why the Dems and Repubs always give the corporations the votes necessary to immunize them from criminal actions they commit, the right to try to steal Iraq's oil at the expense of our kids' lives and limbs, to reward predator credit card companies (the Bankruptcy Act), at the expense of the people, etc. And everyone knows they shamesless take this money.

So Obama's decision to reject public financing might be the first step in ending politicians' voting for corporations against people, even if Obama, who says he'll vote to immunize criminal conduct by the telecoms, is an imperfect vessel to end these practices. Resko shows he's got a bit of thief in him, but not as much as McCain.

[lobear00]

All the Politicians who voted in favor of the "Fisa Bill should all be tossed into the Military and put on the front lines where the fighting is fierce, to give these "JackAsses" a reason to understand what that Constitution is all about. And show what they have done to those who "Now" have given their lives for nothing.

[GrainOSand]

Of the two stories of note concerning Mr. Obama -- campaign financing and FISA bill compromise, I have no problem with the campaign financing decision as I too felt early on that he should opt out of the commitment. I do think there is something for him to learn in how the decision played out in terms of early commitment in writing to the climate of an unforeseeable future, but that is a minor thing.

If I put the Machiavellian template over the FISA compromise that is where I find I am entangled in logic that goes against hard principle. I am a firm believer in process orientation over goals focused, in that the process of travel delivers one to the arrival place. If one takes an ends justify the means approach to arrival, the result of that may well be a process of arrival that sullies and diminishes the accomplishment of arrival. Some say he will go back and fix what he compromised later. That argument seems hollow to me.

I support Mr. Obama, but he needs to make a stand concerning FISA and I hope he does. I support Mr. Obama but people who break the law should not get a pass. This is not mere idealism this is what the government asks us all to adhere to and I never want to become what I despise no matter the reward. That is just me though, for opinions vary widely.

[moreupnorth]

I don't believe the FISA bill has reached the senate yet. Maybe Mr. Obama will have something to say about it when it is time for his senate vote. I'm not holding my breath but just maybe.

[ExRepublican]

Read Glen Greenwald re: OBAMA/FISA.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/06/20/bipartisanship/index.html

"Nobody should be fooled by Obama's vow to work to remove telecom amnesty from this bill. Harry Reid is already acknowledging that this "effort" is likely to fail and is just pure political theater: Reid said: "Probably we can't take that out of the bill, but I'm going to try." The article continued: "Reid said the vote would allow those opposed to the liability protection to 'express their views.'"

We should continue to demand that amnesty is removed from the bill -- and fight it to the bitter end -- but this whole separate vote they'll have in the Senate on whether to remove amnesty is principally designed to enable Obama, once he votes to enact this bill, to say: "Well, I tried to get immunity out, and when I couldn't, I decided to support the compromise." It's almost certainly the case that Hoyer secured Obama's support for the bill before unveiling it.

Either way, Obama -- if amnesty isn't removed -- is going to vote for warrantless eavesdropping and telecom amnesty, and his statement today all but sealed the fate"

*******************************************************

Next, all one has to do is go back to jan 08 and read O's exact words re: this problem. Compare them to yesterday. 100% turnabout? Did he sound more than a tad far right'ish (ohhh, da boogyman!) in his comments yesterday?

Vote for Obama, but be realistic.

[returnofthejedi]

I understand your concerns over the Fisa legislation which i too share. I would love to see these telecom companies have to face the peopl they betrayed by cooperating with illegal spying. Saying that though I am not going to overlook the fact that though the republicans don't have the majority in the senate they still have enogh in there to obstruct any pogressive movements that will damage their marriage to these industries that are doing so much harm to our liberties and our economy for their own personal gain.

[SiberianRat]

"Truth is, if what's necessary to win in November is some outright cheating, I'd be all for that, too. Maybe the ghosts of "Landslide Lyndon" and the Kennedy brothers will help out by stuffing ballot boxes in Texas and fixing vote totals in Chicago...I don't mean it. I exaggerate ... maybe. I'm not sure."

Well, I'm pretty sure that our ever-weakening democracy becomes only weaker with this sort of sentiment...

[returnofthejedi]

We don't have to cheat as the polls are indicating at this very moment. If we stay informed and stay involved as informed voters, an Obama presidency is very much possible. Doing it the old fashioned way would send a message to the masses that when we come together using our collective will to motivate us against evil, we can overcome the corporate elitist that have done this country so much harm.

[ReadyNow]

Obama is playing the race card in Jacksonville,......Obama is going down the road of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton....

He will say ANYTHING to win.....He is only loyal to himself....

Love the Huff Post crowd...."We dont' care if he acts like NIXON, cuz he is OUR NIXON" He will investigate our ENEMIES and give US those no bid contracts...not those Halliburtron crowd....Check out the Dodd/Conrad mortgage scandal......

This is the change we are waiting for......

Sigh

[SanityClaus]

Sigh yourself.

Who do you recommend we vote for, oh wise one?

[ReadyNow]

Write in Kucinich......

[mspost]

ReadyNow, what are you talking about! You're saying Obama is playing the race card, ect. This is

more stupid lies!

[GrainOSand]

Give me a real reason for being against Mr. Obama and I will listen, but what you offered here does not measure up to be viable reasons, it more represents certifiable malarkey. Mr. Obama has never played the race card but it seems many in the electorate have and are willing to continue to do so, despite the inherent ugliness and human frailty in all such attempts. I am not a blind supporter (see my profile for proof) but I still see him as the best candidate in the race. He has some serious explaining to do regarding FISA but I reserve my judgment until he makes his official floor address and takes his official vote. Anything else someone wants to throw at him better come with proof otherwise, it has no legs to stand on.

[moreupnorth]

"Obama has never played the race card" While this may be true he has used racially charged remarks on National TV. Just last week, on the Jimmy Kimmel show, I believe he made reference to Asians in Hawaii not being tall enough, on average, to play basketball. Seems to be some racial overtones there!

He is still a far better choice than McCain though.

[Ahyoka]

I agree completely,ReadyNow...this is no surprise to me at all. He's just another typical self-accomidating politician. After all the BLAH-BLAH-BLAH "Hillary's breaking the rules...she said this and that and THEN did THIS''...NOW that they got their way it's all different. It's suddenly OKEY-DOKEY to break rules and promises and commitments because the almighty messiah Obama is doing it! They are ridiculously hypocritical. I knew he would dissappoint and he IS...but even I didn't think it would be this soon!

[returnofthejedi]

R I P; here "lies" operation chaos that stupid idea hatched by racist, biggots and republican cheerleders. May it find the torment it deserves in hell, along with the bastards that gave it birth.

[TimeJumper]

The expectations of this electorate appear to be far greater than what any candidate can deliver. They seem to want some ethereal being devoid of any flaw or imperfection. There is a yearning for that quintessential candidate who fulfills their every stringent criterion and want; each misstep or perceived wrong they encounter elicits condemnation and rejections.
There needs to be a realization that our elected officials are a reflection of the constituencies that placed them in Washington. Therefore, we should place the blame on those who lacked the diligence and prudence in their choice of elected representatives.

[shep1900]

Yes, the ends justify the means. It's truly transformational--and inspiring. I feel hope! And change! And pride!

And the dark shadow of Richard Nixon, and _his_ political strategies, and self-justifications.

What do silly rules and promises and integrity matter? Not at all to Senator Obama, it becomes increasingly clear.

[wutzhappn]

More of the same corrupt BS you can believe in. The ends justify the means, win at any cost... I thought we were headed for a new kind of politics. Obama apologists need to look in the mirror.

[cavemandave]

you never thought that. why get so excited that he's doing exactly what you thought he'd do?

[wutzhappn]

Got news for you buddy. It's his frickin lobbyists and corporate donors who will be calling the shots from now on. Can anyone say "Exelon?" Same old BS, expect nothing less.

[SanityClaus]

Oh, so now you're all about rules and promises and integrity... how amusing coming from an HC apologist.

[shep1900]

You're seeing shadows, Sanity. Did I mention Senator Clinton? I did not. She's not the nominee. Senator I'll-win-by-hook-or-mostly-by-crook Obama is.

Which the Democratic Party will come to regret, but hey, 50% of us warned the rest of you well in advance.....

[NHGranite]

Did I miss something? Didn't Obama refuse to take Lobbyist and PAC money, and force the DNC to do the same? Isn't most of his money from the people, so he is just not taking federal matching funds so individuals can give his campaign money, and this is wrong how? And isn't he talking to Clinton about picking up her debt? And last, before my head explodes, isn't McCain in trouble for getting and giving back matching funds?

[readerK]

Yes, NHGranite, Obama claims that he doesn't accept money from lobbyists and PACs. But for the reality of how his campaign has been financed, see "Big Donors Among Obama's Grass Roots," by Matthew Mosk and Alec MacGillis (www.washingtonpost.com, Friday, April 11, 2008).

In addition to small online contributors to Obama's campaign, "those with wealth and power have played a critical role in creating Obama's record-breaking fundraising machine...."

Where Obama's concerned, people have not been applying Ronald Reagan's advice: "TRUST BUT VERIFY." As David Brooks wrote in Friday's (6/19/2008) N. Y. Times, there are Two Obamas -- a "Dr. Barack" whose oratory makes people swoon, and "Fast Eddie Obama (FEdO)," who operates on the belief that the end justifies the means. People ought to acquaint themselves a bit more with FEdO. readerK.

[downwithbs]

So David Brooks counted two Obamas; for balance, he should start counting how many McCains there are/have been. Just review McCain's statements about right-wing evangelical leaders, the Bush tax cuts, offshore oil drilling, the lobbyists on his campaign, whether he's accepting public financing, etc. etc. Honestly, the contradictions are enough to make the head swoon.

[Lerk4]

Good post! It's almost like he's.... ummm.. taking only PUBLIC MONEY. As in the public.

[Rule Of Law]

He had better come out against this ex post facto destruction of the Constitution being rushed through Congress--The Retroactive Immunity for lying and Spying Telcoms Act!

If he doesn't the next sound you will hear will be that of 20 million checkbooks and wallets slamming Shut!

[ElkoJohn]

`
the reason he had to abandon his ''moral high ground''
is bc he has to pander to
the big money, the neocons & the powerful lobbys
in order to win the election

and once you sell your soul for the office
well,
just try and get it back
from from the panderees

aka, Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid
.

[devadasi]

Obama is not selling his soul; he's ruthlessly brilliant and I like that. His campaign monies are coming directly from the people, not lobbyists. He'll need all the money he can get to beat the smears of the right wing and the stupidity of 50% of the country.

[Yuma]

Great Post!!
Thank you.

[wutzhappn]

If you believe that, I have some bundlers I'd like you to meet.