FALSE STORYLINE
Barack Obama, who opted out of public financing for his presidential campaign, got most of his cash from large donors, Karl Rove writes in the Wall Street Journal,
“To diminish criticism, Mr. Obama’s campaign spun the storyline that he was being bankrolled by small donors. Michael Malbin, executive director of the Campaign Finance Institute, calls that a ’myth.’ CFI found that Mr. Obama raised money the old fashioned way - 74 percent of his funds came from large donors (those who donated more than $200) and nearly half from people who gave $1,000 or more,” Mr. Rove said.
“But that’s not the entire story. It’s been reported that the Obama campaign accepted donations from untraceable, pre-paid debit cards used by Daffy Duck, Bart Simpson, Family Guy, King Kong and other questionable characters. If the FEC follows up with a report on this, it should make for interesting reading.
“Mr. Obama’s victory marks the death of the campaign finance system. When it was created after Watergate in 1974, the campaign finance system had two goals: reduce the influence of money in politics and level the playing field for candidates.
“This year it failed at both. OpenSecrets.org tells us a record $2.4 billion was spent on this presidential election. And with Mr. Obama’s wide financial advantage, it’s clear that money is playing a bigger role than ever and candidates are not competing on equal footing.
“Ironically, the victim of this broken system is one of its principal architects - Mr. McCain. He helped craft the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform along with Sen. Russ Feingold in 2002.
“No presidential candidate will ever take public financing in the general election again and risk being outspent as badly as Mr. McCain was this year. And even liberals, who have long denied that money is political speech that should be protected by the First Amendment, may now be forced to admit that their donations to Mr. Obama were a form of political expression.”
OBAMA AND WAXMAN
“No one expects President-elect Barack Obama to govern as a supply-sider. He didn’t campaign that way. His voting records in the Illinois legislature and U.S. Senate were on the other side of the moon,” Rich Karlgaard writes at www.forbes.com.
“Having prepared for the worst, we supply-siders and capitalists should feel some relief with Obama’s Cabinet and adviser picks. Hillary Clinton is a solid selection for secretary of state and shows Obama’s confidence. We’re glad Robert Gates is staying at defense. The U.S. economy could do worse than having the Rubinesque Tim Geithner head Treasury and Larry Summers the National Economic Council. Two of Obama’s really good picks are Christina Romer to lead the Council of Economic Advisers and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to head commerce. Romer is something of a supply-sider on fiscal policy; Richardson is a tax-cutter who supports global trade,” Mr. Karlgaard said.
“The big worry will not be Obama, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s House. Henry Waxman’s takeover of the House Committee on Energy & Commerce could be a disaster. Waxman [California Democrat] is backed by Hollywood’s extreme greens, and he loves hectoring business. Look for Waxman to drag oil companies and big pharma to Washington for endless show trials.
“Business will need Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, to enforce some centrist sanity. Emanuel is known as a tough guy. Let’s hope he will tell the Pelosi-Waxman House brigade not to bring legislation so leftist and destructive it will alienate the independent voters who elected Obama.”
TALK RADIO
“The multibillion-dollar talk radio industry faces existential challenges and dramatic opportunities in the upcoming Age of Obama,” Michael Medved writes in USA Today.
“Depending on responses from leading conservative talkers, this rude, raucous indispensable medium will either rise to new heights of mainstream influence, profit and credibility, or else collapse as a declining vehicle for an increasingly angry and alienated fringe,” Mr. Medved said.
“For more than a decade, I’ve hosted a nationally syndicated political talk show. Like all radio veterans, I cherish the notion that the last time a young Democrat took over the White House with gauzy visions of change, it produced a ’Golden Age’ for right-wing talk. …
“Today’s titans of talk naturally dream of repeating this revival, but even if Obamatrons offer targets for ridicule every bit as juicy as Clintonistas, it won’t be easy to recapture the potent magic of the 1990s. Most obviously, the rapid development of cable TV and the Internet has given the public innumerable new options for debate and information. …
“If Obama repeats some of Clinton’s mistakes and launches his administration with polarizing initiatives, then talk radio will fight back with appropriately fierce determination. That’s particularly true if he tries to impose the ’Fairness Doctrine’ - empowering government bureaucrats to clamp down on controversial opinions by requiring federally defined ’balance,’ thereby threatening the very existence of talk radio and politically engaged broadcast TV.
“But if the new president makes credible efforts to govern from the center, then talk radio can’t afford long-term marginalization as a sulking, sniping, angry irrelevancy. It makes no sense to react with pre-emptive rage (and an odd obsession over Obama’s birth certificate) to a president-elect who has remained pointedly vague on policy.”
FORGOTTEN MAN
“Sen. John Kerry’s fate illustrates the new political order underPresident-elect Barack Obama: Reward your enemies, not necessarily your friends,” Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi writes.
“Hillary Clinton, Obama’s tough primary opponent, became Obama’s choice for secretary of state; Kerry, an avid Obama ally, was passed over. Obama’s vice president, Joe Biden, is also a former rival. [On Wednesday] Obama named Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, another primary challenger, as his pick for commerce secretary,” the columnist noted.
“What’s next, Dennis Kucinich as secretary of labor?” …
“If you’re Kerry, you’ve got to be feeling a bit like the Rev. Jeremiah Wright - thrown under the Obama bus, while ex-rivals climb merrily aboard.”
• Greg Pierce can be reached at 202/636-3285 or e-mail Greg Pierce.
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