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Parsing The Pledge

By Big Tent Democrat

By Big Tent Democrat

Fierce Obama partisan Adam B. cites Mark Schmitt's parsing of the Obama pledge to public finance of the general election:

I described this a few weeks ago as a "pledge" to participate, but I should not have. Obama's precise statement was, and has always been, "If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election." That's an artful statement, and it's not artful in a "meaning of 'is'" sense -- it's exactly the right answer. A commitment to "preserve a publicly financed election" would have to mean much more than whether both participate in the system. It would require some significant agreement about how to handle outside money, 527s, "Swift Boat"-type attack groups, party money, etc., and other factors that have undermined the last two publicly financed elections, from both sides. It is hardly an evasion to describe this as an agreement to be negotiated, rather than a simple pledge.

How come this sounds so much like John "I voted for it before I voted against it" Kerry to me? As many properly said to Hillary Clinton on her Iraq vote, just bite the bullet - renounce the pledge. Do not parse it. It will not work against against a Media loving McCain. Do it now when your opponent is the Media despised Hillary Clinton. Do not become John Kerry.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on February 18, 2008 (boomark / email).