Legal Commentary

Barack Obama generated so much excitement in January and February because he seemed like a completely different breed of politician.  But the Obama "movement"  has slowed because, starting with the NAFTA nonsense in Ohio, he has recently seemed like (a lesser form of) just another modern pol. 

The annoyance of "politics as usual" hit a high this morning when, on the political talk shows, I saw a bunch of old white men ? ranging from Tom Daschle to Howard Dean to John Kerry to Bill Nelson to Ed Rendell ? debating what to do about Florida and Michigan.  (Given the recent election records of Daschle, Dean and Kerry, I suppose the Dems will have other renown losers like John Edwards and Dick Gephardt and Al Gore making the rounds in the weeks ahead.)  Watching each side set out their partisan talking points almost had me rooting anew for Mike Bloomberg to decide to run. 

Particularly annoying was all the hand-wringing about who would pay for the costs of any re-vote plan in Florida and Michigan.  Though cost estimates varied, nobody put the collective price tag above $25 million, which is less than half of what the Obama campaign raised in February and much less than what the Clinton campaign is on pace to raise in March.  Thus, while the candidates keep raising huge sums to support partisan campaign efforts, apparently the relatively small costs of making sure Florida and Michigan voters are part of the process has everyone flummoxed.

Here's a suggestion: if Obama wants to show he truly is a completely different breed of politician, he ought to offer to pay the costs of Florida and Michigan re-votes from his campaign coffers.  In making this offer, Obama could say that he'd like the Clinton campaign to offer to share these costs, but he should make clear that he is willing to cover all the costs if necessary. 

Such an offer to ensure the voters in Florida and Michigan can play a direct and fair role in the primary process seems to be the right thing to do regardless of its possible political impact.  And, at least from my perspective, it also would be a shrewd move for a candidate who has not seemed much like an agent of change in recent weeks.