Charlie Cook: Obama & public financing-Cries of 'naive' would be louder than those of 'hypocrite'

[babylonsister]

Obama right to drop public financing
Cries of 'naive' would be louder than those of 'hypocrite'

NBC News
ANALYSIS
By Charlie Cook
updated 11:09 a.m. CT, Tues., June. 24, 2008


WASHINGTON - One of this week's big political debates surrounds the decision of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., to eschew public financing, a decision that many critics say constitutes him breaking a campaign promise and exposes him to allegations of hypocrisy.

snip//

Perhaps it is because I am on the wrong side of 50 years of age that I don't understand the concept of "post-partisan," the new buzzword that, as best I can tell, means that your last name is not Bush, Clinton or Dole.

But if Obama is to be elected president, and it would seem at this stage that there is about a 50-50 chance he will be, I am a bit relieved that a potential president would be disinclined to give up a likely three- or four-to-one spending advantage.

I strongly suspect that if Obama had agreed to tie both hands behind his back going into the general election, the word "naive" might be thrown around once or twice, possibly more than "hypocrite" is now.

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25348812/