He broke a promise! He broke a promise!

I am extremely disappointed by the lack of discussion on my last entry. I was all ready to post another big long analysis too, this one about Roe v. Wade.

Before I continue, I need to link Seb's post on the Obama fist pound (or terrorist fist jab). Then I need to take a moment to sob bitterly...

Okay. All better.

I try never to use the word "hate" in reference to a person. I openly hate my anthropology class, getting up in the morning, driving at night, egg casserole, Microsoft, the Pentagon, Coca-Cola (the company, not the drink) and the fact that Manchester no longer bothers to have any full-time professors for my major, but I really make an effort not to let myself hate people.



Lou Dobbs regulalry challenges this effort (click that link for a treat). It's not just that he's a xenophobic loudmouth; there are plenty of those. It's the way he comes on CNN, a fairly well-respected news network, proclaiming himself as independent (which he is) and talking like his opinion is the only one that matters. I seriously do not understand why anyone agrees to go on his show - they get four words in edgewise, are belittled and told how wrong they are, and then it's on to something else. And it's all done on a news network from a non-partisan guy, giving the impression that somehow he's the straight talker, cutting through everyone else's bullshit.

I just get sick and tired of the complete lack of respect for anyone else and, what's worse in my opinion, a refusal to see any other side of an issue.

Last night's episode was no exception. This time, he set my blood boiling by talking about Obama's broken promise.

For those of you who somehow missed it, the big issue here is that Obama has chosen not to accept federal funding (and with it, spending limits) for his presidential election bid. No other presidential nominee has done this since the system was set up after Watergate, but it's really an issue because he previous indicated that he would accept federal funding, making this a flip-flop for him or, as Lou Dobbs said six times in his five minute mini-coverage (and unvariably in response to every other point his guests tried to bring up), a broken promise.

Let's get the facts on the table before we continue: Barack Obama did say on a questionnaire in 2007 that he would accept public financing for the general election campaign, adding that he would make aggressive efforts to come to an agreement with his opponent on the matter.

McCain and Obama have very different things to say about this. The McCain camp is hammering home that Obama broke a promise to the American people, while Obama's campaign points to the "aggressive" efforts part. The two campaigns have very different stories about how aggressive the efforts were.

I think, on a matter of fact, that McCain has this one right. I doubt Obama's people made very serious efforts to come to an agreement on public financing, what with his massive fundraising advantage and all. He did, in fact, go back on his word.

Who cares?

When I got my ear pierced my sophomore year of high school, I let my dad think I was agreeing to never get any other piercings or tattoos. I didn't expressly promise (I wanted to keep a window open), but I did allow him to pay for the piercing under that understanding. I ended up having to return the $15, but I didn't pay interest.

I broke a promise. But what should I have done? Gone my entire life not doing something I wanted to do because of a promise I made when I was fifteen? That's ridiculous. I probably shouldn't have agreed to those terms in the first place (though I didn't have a problem with them at the time), but the fact is I changed my mind.

Barack Obama changed his mind. And no, it wasn't the move that showed the most integrity: he's got his foot in his mouth, because he was acting like some champion of public financing before he found out just how much money he was capable of raising, and now he's completely reversing his stance and pretending that somehow his private donor system is better than the pubic one. And just to make his stance look better, he adds some false claims about McCain's donor base.

I was going to make some aside remark about how I wasn't just defending my candidate and how I have a record of playing devil's advocate and apologizing for opponents, but I think I just showed that.

Anyway, back to the broken promise. Get over it. The facts changed, Obama found he could get a LOT more money this way, and he changed his mind. It was a legal decision, an expected decision, and probably a decision most other people in his position would make. To reject all that private money would essentially be to handicap himself and voluntarily surrender one of the real advantages he has over John McCain.

Besides, George W. Bush promised to win the war in Iraq. I think we'll all be thrilled if he decides to break that promise and give up. Sometimes changing your mind isn't all bad.

P.S. - I promise that if John McCain wins the 2008 presidential election, I will be in another country by October 2009.