[Vision2020] Obama’s broken promise — Change You Can Believe In

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Commentary: Obama breaks promise on campaign finance
By Campbell Brown
CNN's Campbell Brown complains about Barack Obama's switch on financing.

(CNN) — You may have heard that Wednesday night Barack Obama will be
on five different TV networks speaking directly to the American
people.

He bought 30 minutes of airtime from the different networks, a very
expensive purchase. But hey, he can afford it. Barack Obama is loaded,
way more loaded than John McCain, way more loaded than any
presidential candidate has ever been at this stage of the campaign.
Just to throw a number out: He has raised well over $600 million since
the start of his campaign, close to what George Bush and John Kerry
raised combined in 2004.

Without question, Obama has set the bar at new height with a truly
staggering sum of cash. And that is why as we approach this November,
it is worth reminding ourselves what Barack Obama said last November.

One year ago, he made a promise. He pledged to accept public financing
and to work with the Republican nominee to ensure that they both
operated within those limits.

Then it became clear to Sen. Obama and his campaign that he was going
to be able to raise on his own far more cash than he would get with
public financing. So Obama went back on his word.

He broke his promise and he explained it by arguing that the system is
broken and that Republicans know how to work the system to their
advantage. He argued he would need all that cash to fight the ruthless
attacks of 527s, those independent groups like the Swift Boat
Veterans. It's funny though, those attacks never really materialized.

The Washington Post pointed out recently that the bad economy has
meant a cash shortage among the 527s and that this election year they
have been far less influential.

The courageous among Obama's own supporters concede this decision was
really made for one reason, simply because it was to Obama's financial
advantage.

On this issue today, former Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, an Obama
supporter, writes in The New York Post, "a hypocrite is a person who
puts on a false appearance of virtue — who acts in contradiction to
his or her stated beliefs or feelings. And that, it seems to me, is
what we are doing now."

For this last week, Sen. Obama will be rolling in dough. His
commercials, his get-out-the-vote effort will, as the pundits have
said, dwarf the McCain campaign's final push. But in fairness, you
have to admit, he is getting there in part on a broken promise.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Campbell Brown.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/28/campbell.brown.obama/index.html#cnnSTCVideo