Obama took a liberal position in the primary, but lied about it.

[jsamuel]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4303783&page=1?click

"He was very clear. There was no hedging," Wolfson said. "And recently Sen. Obama has decided to go back on this pledge. He broke his pledge. It now appears that he made a promise to the American people that he's not keeping and that is wrong. And it's certainly not change you can believe in."

...

In a questionnaire for the Midwest Democracy Network, the details of which were released on November 27, 2007, Senator Obama was asked: "If you are nominated for President in 2008 and your major opponents agree to forgo private funding in the general election campaign, will you participate in presidential public financing system?"

He answered: "Yes. I have been a long-time advocate for public financing of campaigns combined with free television and radio time as a way to reduce the influence of moneyed special interests."

...

While all that time Obama supporters were attacking Edwards for taking public financing, Obama and Edwards pledged to take it in the general election if the Republican nominee would. Now, Obama goes back on his pledge. Obama attacked Edwards in Iowa for the SEIU and 527s, he now has them working for him. I cannot trust Obama.

[babylonsister]

1. Has he been nominated yet? How did he lie? nt

[madrchsod]

5. it`s hopeless

i asked earlier-three hours ago -and no one has shown me just what is the lie...it`s hopeless

[madrchsod]

2. ok...then don`t support him

this same article was posted in gd/p about three hours ago.

[Neecy]

3. I hope he does go back on it

It was a dumb pledge to begin with, and he's going to need every dime to combat RW lies and swiftboating. It isn't a question of trust, it's a question of smart politics.

[babylonsister]

10. I agree; this is politics, nothing is carved in stone. And the fact

that the Clinton campaign is getting involved is worrisome; everyone is protesting too much.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4632762

[Neecy]

21. yep.

Any Democrat should support pulling out of public financing. McCain is stuck with it and I hope that Hillary, if she's the nominee, will opt out. We'll need every advantage we can get and that's just the way it is. The Hillary people complaining about this - do you really want to see our nominee constrained by public financing in a record-breaking fundraising year for Democrats? If so, you know nothing about politics. This is a phony issue and the Hillary campaign shouldn't go too far with this - unless they don't care about winning unless she's the nominee.

[Enrique]

35. I agree

I'm flexible about these types of "pledges."

but I wonder about you. Would you be as flexible if the situations were reversed?

[Clovis Sangrail]

25. but he never *made the pledge the OP is asserting he made

He was asked if he were the nominee and if your opponent agreed to forgo private funding, would he do the same.
He answered yes.
That is not the same as pledging to only use public funding.

He hasn't pledged to "not take any private funding" nor could he even have broken the percieved pledge because A) he's not the nominee yet and B) his opponent hasn't agreed to forgo private funding as well.

I read this article and pretty shocked at the level of intentional disinformation that was coming from Hillary's communication manager.

[ProSense]

4. He didn't lie, from your link

But later in his answer he also said: "If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election."

Last week, Obama spokesman Burton indicated that public financing was more of an "option" than a "pledge".

Mr. Obama did not rule out the possibility of accepting public financing, but declared on Friday, “I’m not the nominee yet.”

“If I am the nominee,” Mr. Obama told reporters at a news conference in Milwaukee, “I will make sure our people talk to John McCain’s people to find out if we are willing to abide by the same rules and regulations with respect to the general election going forward. It would be presumptuous of me to start saying now that I am locking into something when I don’t even know if the other side will agree to it.”

Last year, Mr. Obama sought an advisory ruling from the Federal Election Commission to see whether his campaign could opt out of public financing in the primary season and accept it in the general election. It was merely an inquiry, he said, not a pledge to accept the financing.

link

[jsamuel]

7. spin, he answered the question YES

[ProSense]

9. Spin? It's from the same answer you linked to! Your desperation is showing! n/t

[jsamuel]

14. He answered the question YES.

I could care less about either candidate. I just can't stand Obama's hypocrisy.

[Clovis Sangrail]

26. if you honestly believe this is hypocrisy from Obama

you need to take a break from this stuff for a while and come back with a fresh set of eyes.

[ProSense]

17. There was more to the answer, but you choose to ignore the rest to fit your distortion. n/t

[BeyondGeography]

6. No 527s either? No party money?

Don't waste your time on this. Obama and McCain can work out a deal where they take public funding and their supporters are free to contribute to political parties that will in turn run ads on their behalf. McCain will be slaughtered by whatever remains of his support in own party if he insists on closing these loopholes as part of a public financing deal with Obama.

Meantime, of course, you and your ilk can mimic McCain's attacks on Obama to score cheap political points. Whatever makes you feel better.

[jsamuel]

8. Obama attacked Edwards in Iowa for the SEIU and 527s, he now has them working for him.

more hypocrisy

[Catchawave]

13. I noticed that too j, and many other things that don't make

sense. Wish I could feel "fired up", or whatever the hell it is :silly:

[jackson_dem]

22. YES WE CAN! (be hypocrites)

;)

[ProSense]

27. Here:

Sen. Barack Obama won the support Friday of the 1.9-million member Service Employees International Union, his second endorsement in as many days from large labor organizations and a fresh sign of momentum in the Democratic presidential race with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"There has never been a fight in Illinois or a fight in the nation where our members have not asked Barack Obama for assistance and he has not done everything he could to help us," Andy Stern, the union's president, told reporters in announcing the decision.

link

Barack Obama has won the backing of the United Food and Commercial Workers, a politically active union with half of its 1.3 million members in the Democratic presidential battleground of Ohio.

The UFCW gives Obama an organizational boost in vital upcoming contests, with 69,000 members in the Buckeye state and another 26,000 in Texas.

link

[Catchawave]

33. Those pesky "special interest" groups.....

/snork

[ProSense]

24. "he now has them working for him." So you're insulting the SEIU, were they tricked by Obama? n/t

[Happyhippychick]

11. I wonder if this is as bad as McCain's flip flop on torture. Perhaps

instead of attacking one of our own we should be asking McCain why he has decided to trounce on his principles?

[jsamuel]

15. Yes, McCain was bad on that for sure.

and on most things.

[Happyhippychick]

16. So why not concentrate on that instead of eating our own? Don't we want to

rise above that kind of crap?

[jsamuel]

18. Because anyone doing this should be called out on it.

[Happyhippychick]

19. Hello? What part of "he isn't the nominee" do you NOT understand?

[babylonsister]

23. Doing what? What has been done? nt

[apnu]

12. Hmm... this mountain looks like a mole hill.

Let's see, Obama was asked if the Republican against him in the General Election choose public funding would Obama do the same? And he said "Yes". OK...

Reality check:

Is Obama in the General Election right now facing a Republican nominee? No.

Is Obama nominated for President of the United States in the 2008 election cycle as it stands right now? No.

Is this something the Clinton camp came up with and spoon fed to journalists (in other words 'a plant')? Yes.

So, basically, he's not a liar on this point. All this waffling about with "options" and "pledges" is just that -- waffling.

If you want to be offended by Obama for waffling and hedging his bets, fine with me. That's a legit bitch. But, not trusting Obama when Clinton is the one making stuff up seems silly to me.

But hey, its your vote, do what you like with it.

Oh and here's another great quote, on the second page of that link:

"Here is a very stark case in real time where Senator Obama rhetorically said he would take public financing and then when the time comes to actually do it he walks away from it," Wolfson said, coming dangerously close to declaring Obama the presumptive nominee.

In fact on CBS' Face The Nation Sunday, Obama media strategist Jim Axelrod asked Wolfson that very question: "Are you ceding us the nomination?"

(edited to add above quote.

[Cha]

20. You've crossed over

into the pathetic and you're not a good representative of John Edwards. Your OP stinks of desperation.

[LordJFT]

28. Obama will take public financing

[jsamuel]

29. now he is refusing to say that even though he said it in Nov

[LordJFT]

30. he doesn't want to sound presumptive, but he will

[jsamuel]

31. doesn't want to sound presumptive?

What about when he ripped Edwards in the SC debate because he said his vote on the Peru Free Trade deal wouldn't matter because he was going to be president anyway?

[LordJFT]

34. link?

[mkultra]

32. he didnt , your to dumb to read

he only pledged to refuse if he was the nominee and the opponent did as well.

Neither has happened.

He is looking into whether he can wait until McCain declares to make a final decision.


On the other side, Hillary signed a pledge in which she agreed not to seat the FL and MI dels, yet NOW she wants them seated. Thats how lies work. Try to remember this when you get back to the ward.

[Major Hogwash]

36. jsamuel, why is this important to you? Kerry stuck to the public finance limit in the general.

And we know how that turned out. So, tell me what's wrong with changing his mind about it, if he even did change his mind about it, even though he hasn't won the nomination yet?

I want to understand why you're bringing this up now.