It's Not Always Wise To Save the Best For Last

Republicans tried to make a big deal out of it way back when the general election started. Then, we didn't hear much about it. Recently, I heard Campbell Brown mention it on her show on CNN. And finally, McCain is making what I believe to be his best argument to undercut Obama, perhaps of the entire campaign, but definitely of the last couple of weeks. What's the argument?

Commenting on Obama's 30-min infomercial that played this evening (about which I don't have much of a comment since there was no new information), McCain made these remarks in Florida:

When you're watching this gauzy, feel-good commercial, just remember that it was paid for with broken promises. Senator Obama signed a piece of paper committing to public financing of his campaign. Twice he looked the American people in the eye and said he would sit down with me before he abandoned public financing. He didn't mean a word of it. When it was in his interest to break his promise, he tossed it aside like it didn't mean a thing. He is the first candidate since Watergate to abandon the public financing system, and his campaign is now being flooded with hundreds of millions of dollars in undisclosed and questionable donations. His campaign has directly profited from his broken promise and because of that, the American people have to ask: what does the broken promise behind tonight's infomercial say about the value of his other commitments?

Let's leave aside McCain's accusations of "undisclosed and questionable donations", accusations which rely less on evidence and more on conjecture. The issue of campaign finance is obviously one he feels very strongly about -- almost as strongly as the bear DNA research -- but this argument could have actually gotten some traction. The fact of the matter is that Obama did say say he would participate in public financing, and then when the money started to come in he opted out. As I said before, this is not new information and every now and again the McCain camp tried to make it a big deal without much luck. Even after Obama pulled in a mind-boggling $150 million in a single month the argument failed to stick because, in my opinion, it made the McCain campaign look whiney and petty. But now Obama has provided a very real, very tangible showing of his strong financial position and McCain does very well to make the point that the only reason Obama was able to buy $3 million worth of ad time was because he broke a promise.

Now, I personally think that it's a good thing that Obama opted out of public financing. For the first time in a long time a Democrat is able to energetically and thoroughly campaign against Republicans and their too often devious strategies. With funding from private donors Obama has been able to effectively avoid being "swiftboated" in a pretty remarkable way - he's had the kitchen sink thrown at him twice and will likely be made leader of the free world in spite of it. And I know his campaign's senior aides made a lot of arguments when he did opt out as to why it was OK for him to do so - I don't remember them and, honestly, I don't think they held a lot of water. But the fact of the matter is these ads, for whatever good they may do him, have given McCain an opening with what could be a lot of potential. I think if McCain avoids hyperbole and exaggeration and just hammers that point home he could, at the very least, put a more significant chink in the armor that external polls have given Obama.

But that's just my opinion.