http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/1018070,CST-EDT-edit22a.article


 Quote:
There are a number of firsts to be proud of in Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

But the candidate's recent decision to reject $84 million in public financing for the general election, and the spending limits that come with it, isn't one of them.

Obama's announcement finalized the backpedaling his campaign had done for months on the issue.

Last year, Obama, the reformer, made his position clear. In a questionnaire on campaign financing, he wrote: "If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election."

That was at the end of a nearly 200-word statement about his belief in the public financing of campaigns "as a way to reduce the influence of moneyed special interests."

In short, if John McCain agreed to public financing in the general election, so would Obama.

All fine sentiments.

But that was before it became crystal clear that Obama and his savvy staff have a prodigious talent for raking in the bucks, from the hordes of small contributors e-mailing him money to high-rollers looking to back a winner to the White House. And before it became crystal clear what a disadvantage it would be for Obama to limit himself to spending the same amount of money as his challenger in the general election.

So now Obama, the insanely good fund-raiser, has flip-flopped, saying that the system is broken and he can't allow his Republican opponents to spend millions of dollars through independent groups to smear him.

He's right about that weakness in the system. The only problem with his argument is that Democrats can take advantage of the same loopholes and seem better positioned to do so this election season.

We judge our politicians by their willingness to stand tall on their long-held principles, even when it inconveniences them.

Obama has passed that test time and again.

He has set the bar high.

But in the end, his past performance serves only to spotlight how brilliantly he has failed this time.