Full of cash, Obama lays blame

It was no surprise when Barack Obama flipped on public financing last week. When it suited his goals last year, he pledged, “If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election.” When it didn’t suit his goals, he ditched the pledge. And apparently he did it because the Republicans made him.

Obama has raised an impressive $296 million to date. He stands to raise a lot of money for the nine weeks following the Democratic convention. So forget “change we can believe in.”

I cannot get as indignant as some. After all, public financing never was about reform. It always was about helping Democrats get into the White House — which is why so many alleged reformers have praised Obama’s flip-flop. Even the goo-goo Center for Responsive Politics Web site featured a piece suggesting the $1.2 million per day of public financing “might not be enough.”

In a video e-mailed to supporters, Obama floated the argument that his war chest was akin to public financing because of all the small checks his team has cashed. But as the New York Times reported, already Obama “has collected more money in contributions of $1,000 or more than even Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s once-vaunted team.” This week, Obama is trolling for checks from Clinton fat cats. Obama also claimed that he was opting out of public financing, even though he supports it, because “the system is broken.” It’s broken, because right-leaning GOP independent groups that operate outside fundraising limits will be used to “smear” Obama. After eight years of Democrat 527 smears against Republicans, it is kind of him to notice. Team Obama set up fightthesmears.com to fight misinformation. Site visitors are invited to send a viral e-mail that charges, “Rush Limbaugh and his fellow right-wing attack dogs have been spreading baseless rumors about a nonexistent video tape showing Michelle Obama using a racial epithet.” It was a vile, baseless rumor.

You could applaud Team Obama for setting the record straight, if it did not gloss over the role of Larry C. Johnson, identified simply as a “blogger,” not a Clinton supporter, as David Weigel reported in The American Prospect online. Instead it targeted Limbaugh for saying “a tape exists of Michelle Obama using the word ‘whitey.’”

(Limbaugh should not have repeated the rumor, but he did so as many political editors were grappling over whether to report the Internet rumor, or ignore it.)

Then Obama pulled the race card. At a fundraiser, Obama told supporters that he had to turn down public financing so that he can raise enough money to fight GOP 527s. As the New York Times reported, he said, “They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. ‘He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?’ “

Who does Obama think he’s kidding?

Rather than be upfront about opting out of public financing because of the math, he stooped to blaming others for his decision to cash in. He also blamed the system and played the race card. Which raises a question: Does America really need another victim in the White House?

Debra J. Saunders is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Her e-mail address is dsaunders@sfchronicle.com.