Betraying his principles: Obama puts political expediency to work

By U.S. Rep. Tom Cole

Published: June 29, 2008

Barack Obama's recent decision to break his word and opt out of the public financing system and the manner in which he justified that decision were Nixonian to the core.

The facts of the matter are simple enough. Obama made verbal and written promises to accept public financing in the general election campaign if his Republican opponent would agree to do the same. John McCain has indicated he will do so, even in the face of Obama's reversal. So, in his first consequential decision since becoming his party's nominee, Obama chose to break his word to the American people.

It's not just the fact that Obama will now be the first major party presidential nominee since Watergate to opt out of public financing in the general election that should raise eyebrows — though it makes the Richard Nixon comparison even more compelling. In classic Nixon style, Obama chose to blame his reversal on his opponents rather than accept responsibility for the decision himself. Nixon always had some plausible sounding excuse to one-up his opponents, to reverse his positions and to lower his standards. That excuse was the same one Obama chose to offer in defense of his recent reversal — political expediency.

And even as he betrays his own professed principals, Obama promises in soaring rhetoric that once he's in office he will work to enact a real system of public finance. Those tactics are familiar to anyone who lived through the tragic Nixon presidency.

The real losers from Obama's reversal will be Democrats themselves. Democratic office holders and candidates will inevitably be forced to express their opinion of Obama's decision. If history is any guide, they will find themselves, as they did during the Clinton presidency, "defending the indefensible.”

And it will cost Obama, too. The public will be less likely to take him at his word going forward. Barack Obama has chosen to diminish his personal credibility for transitory and self-serving political gain. That should cause serious concern for his supporters and all those engaged in the public arena.

Campaigns tell us who a candidate is as well as what he believes. There have been some disturbing signs in this respect where Obama is concerned. He embraced his church and his pastor when it was politically convenient to do so and abandoned both when it wasn't. He talks of bipartisanship, but in his brief tenure in the Senate he has never exhibited this trait on the major issues of the day. And now he has chosen to break his word and divert resources to himself that could otherwise be directed to his party. Richard Nixon did the same in 1972.

Like Nixon before him, Obama has chosen to campaign in ways that are self-centered and inconsistent with his own professed values. To be sure, in contrast to Nixon, he hasn't broken the law. But like Nixon he has broken his word. That ought to concern his supporters even more than his opponents.

Cole, R-Moore, represents Oklahoma's 4th District in the U.S. House and is chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Like Nixon before him, Obama has chosen to campaign in ways that are self-centered and inconsistent with his own professed values.

Comments