Fact or opinion
I have to say that Michael Dobbs does an excellent job of researching and presenting facts in his Washington Post column ‘The Fact Checker.’ In his February 20th piece, The Obama Pledge, however, Dobbs takes his neatly researched facts and immediately heads out to left field.
In a February 1, 2007 letter to the Federal Election Commission, Senator Obama’s attorneys stated he would not “rule out the possibility of a publicly funded [general] campaign if both major parties’ nominees eventually decide, or even agree, on this course.” See: page two of the letter.
Then, in response to an October 2007 questionnaire from The Midwest Democracy Network asking if he would forgo private funding of a general campaign, Obama answered, in part:
“Yes . . . If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election.”
See: Midwest Democracy Network Questionnaire
Michael Dobbs asserts:
“The Obama campaign has said different things at different times on the issue of public financing. While there may have been a little wriggle room in some campaign statements, Obama’s affirmative answer to the Midwest Democracy Network seems unequivocal”
But the evidence presented by Dobbs is, on its face, totally clear that Obama never made an unequivocal pledge to accept public financing. Senator Obama’s position seems wholly consistent throughout, and the idea of public financing of a general campaign has been presented as a conditional possibility that depended upon reaching a negotiated agreement with the Republican nominee.
Obama’s answer is right there in black and white on the Midwest Democracy Network questionnaire:
“If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election.”
It is a real head-scratcher to me that Dobbs can take this obviously conditional statement and claim that Obama’s answer was an unequivocal pledge, when it wasn’t.
I’m thankful to Michael Dobbs for including references to his source material.
Fact checking the fact checker seems to be a necessity.
