Jeff Jarvis

Jeff, you're dead wrong on this. Not only will opting out will allow his campaign to directly respond to the resources that 527 smear groups will devote to attacking him (blah blah muslim blah blah michelle blah *whisper*black*whisper*) but it will allow him to have enough money to campaign for votes IN EVERY STATE, not just "battlegrounds." McCain locked himself because when his campaign was almost DOA, he took a loan out against his public funding BEFORE he took the "pledge." Also note the RNC cash-on-hand advantage that McCain would have by locking Obama into only Federal money. By opting out (and by refusing Lobbyist and PAC contributions), Obama has a broad-based, nationwide source of financial resources to campaign for President of the United States, not Chief Panderer to Florida and Ohio. Get your facts straight. - Andrew Feinberg

With the amount of money Obama can raise, why would he want to use restrictive campaign funds? Just because he's working towards being different, doesn't mean he needs to be "stupid." - Vince DeGeorge

politicians not being political would be like oxygen based life forms not breathing. You can avail yourself to the option of not breathing, but it will not produce good results. - Robert Seidman

Jeff, I wonder if you have read Obama's two books, which he wrote himself. I doubt anyone could complete that assignment and still maintain that he is "just another politician." And in fact, the reason opting out of public funding is the rational decision at this point stems from the unique connection Obama made with 1.5 million small donors, a feat which strongly indicates IMO that he is NOT just another politician. - Len Edgerly

Use Google Blog Search to browse the latest posts on these subjects -- Barack Obama AND AIPAC OR campaign finance OR FISA OR Iran War OR unified Jerusalem -- and you will notice that quite a few former Obama enthusiasts are losing their enthusiasm fast. At times he almost seems to be positioning himself to the right of McCain. I think he is making a huge political mistake. Why work hard to elect yet another neocon tool? Obama seems to be pursuing the same strategy now which lost Hillary Clinton the nomination. - Sean McBride

Len, actions speak louder than words. - Jeff Jarvis

Judgment on Obama and campaign funding assumes the system he's bucking isn't rigged and polluted. It is. Give me a break. - Warner Crocker

McCain/Obama: the RNC has 5X what the DNC has to support their candidates so money to offset the RNC line against Obama is important. - Mike Reardon

The 43 previous US Presidents were politicians, so it should come as no surprise that Barack Obama is one too. - paul mooney

Jeff, you'd rather have him lose the election if winning it comes at the cost of shattering your Utopian hopes and dreams? - Robert Seidman

Jeff, and you are surprised? - Thomas Vincent

Please, please, please don't buy the mainstream media talking point. Public funding would be worthwhile if you couldn't just pump the 527s full of money. But McCain didn't want that. So Obama had no choice. BTW, where is the outrage against McCain for accepting public money but going over spending limits? http://www.boston.com/news/nat... - Victor Ganata via Alert Thingy

Obama can raise funds without the 527s and public money... and put McCain in a corner at the same time. Big Mac co-sponsored the McCain-Feingold bill, andhe keeps jumping through the loopholes - Cindy's corporate jet, etc. - Bill Sodeman via fftogo

@jeffjarvis, public campaign finance is most anti-corrupting for incumbents to ensure they focus on the job vs. reelection money - Cornelius Toole

Jeff - I think there are a few ways to look at this. Clearly, the appearance isn't great. But, the reality is that the purpose of public funding is to reduce the influence of special interests. In utillzing the Internet to attract small donors, he's clearly reducing the influence of those interests. At the same time, he has strongly asked the 527s to back off - and we saw MoveOn do that this week. So, it looks as though his fundraising will be more (small d) democratic than others in recent campaigns. Last - we want our leaders to be able to adapt and respond to new information on teh ground. Clearly, he now sees a better path to the white house by foregoing the public funds than by taking them. So, shouldn't we appreciate his decision making rather than lockign him into a position taken when he had limited information? If McCain thought he could raise more private funds than public, he'd dump the public financing as well. - Barry Graubart via twhirl

Jeff, of course Obama is just another politician, who will do what he needs to do to be in office and remain in office. And I support him, by the way. http://snurl.com/2mx3y - Dewald Pretorius

Obama's campaign has mostly been idealistic so far with sweeping promise of change and new direction - practicality and the "game" will eventually win out - prepare for the two sides of Obama, and prepare for disappointment. - Kevin Cearns

The core subtext here: neocon billionaires, hectomillionaires and oligarchs (McCain) vs. the American people (Obama). The oligarchs are angry about losing their financial grip on the American political process. They are also upset by the declining power of the mainstream media vs. the Internet -- a reality which doesn't change the fact that Obama's neoconish policy pronouncements and actions since he won the nomination are beginning to grievously alienate his base. Some of them would prefer an honest and outright neocon to a neocon who is falsely pretending to be an anti-neocon and change agent -- at least you know what you are getting. - Sean McBride

defining neocon (by the way): pro Iraq War, pro Iran War, pro Clash of Civilizations, pro torture, pro police state methods, pro oligarchy, pro mainstream media monopoly, pro nepotocracy, pro crony capitalism, pro Judeo-Christian fascism; anti Mideast peace process, anti democracy, anti U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, anti Internet media decentralization, anti meritocracy, anti conservatism, anti liberalism, anti libertarianism, anti civil liberties - Sean McBride

simpler description of neocon - massive profit with complete lack of morals, ethics, empathy or humanity. It just so happens that all of the pro stuff Sean listed is the path of least resistance. Fear, uncertainty and doubt. - Tad Goes to 11

Tad -- to further simplify: neoconservatism = sociopathic plutocracy. - Sean McBride

Sean, I really think you need to go look up the history of the Neoconservative movement. I suggest you start with "The End of History" by Francis Fukuyama. What you're describing is classical fascism with a touch of theocracy. - Andrew Feinberg

Yeah, from what I understand, neoconservative is really just warmed-over mercantilism with more powerful guns. - Victor Ganata via Alert Thingy