Obama Problem 1 of 2

I'm angry with Senator Obama right now. Don't act like you don't know why. 4 hours ago, flip on any major channel on television (with the exception of ABC. Ha!) and there he was, in primetime television, preceding the final game of the World Series, explaining to the American people what we already know: He's Barack Obama, and he's running for President. OK, I'm not angry that he felt the need to do a little face time and maybe stump for a few more votes, but I'm angry with how he did it, for two reasons: (1) A times, didn't it seem like the typical Democrat "Oh, let's exploit working America and say how we're gonna save the world" ? (2) I want to know: how much freaking money did that cost to do tonight? I say that because, if not for one of Obama's straight lies during this campaign, he never would have been able to do that. McCain can't counter what I saw at all tonight, because McCain can flat-out not afford it. There's something wrong with the American political system when the candidate who raised $600 million can purchase a tactical, political advantage 5 days before an election and his opponent can only sit and watch as McCain tells those who interview him: "He vowed to use public financing, and got me to commit to it...I'm still waiting for that call."

I'm talking about when at the start of this 20 month (!) campaign, Barack Obama publicly vowed to buy into public financing for his campaign. But, in June, he did a 180 and decided to opt out and allow his campaign to raise as much as humanly possible. Hence, $600 million. Now, I give Obama credit for trying to take an ideological stand against something that in his view doesn't really serve its purpose anymore. But it's disconcerting that he is on record as both singing a document and telling Senator McCain that he would sit down with him and work out a compromise. That meeting never took place.

It doesn't damage his credibility or his image *that* much, but I have a problem with Obama thinking that the system John McCain is using was going to put him at a disadvantage because he claimed the Republican party had its dirty fingers in the thing and had figured out all the loopholes. So it's questionable that he saw a way to sidestep everything and give himself the upper hand to beat something that isn't there....McCain doesn't take money from the big donors that Bush had, that's why if you go to JohnMcCain.com and look at the donation page, it's called the "Compliance Fund" not the "Corrupt Republican Coffer Fund".

This doesn't mean Obama is a liar, but it's dirty politics. I recall a column by David Brooks over the summer right after this happened (voila)...it's just dirty politics, and Obama got away with it. He went back on a promise, and not many people cared to find out why or call him out on it, but if McCain beats him in 6 days, it's because people convinced themselves he was the most trustworthy of the two...and that's scary.