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"I found myself more like the donors I met" - Obama
https://theintercept.com/2016/04/15/barack-obama-never-said-money-wasnt-corrupting-in-fact-he-said-the-opposite/DURING THURSDAY’S DEMOCRATIC debate in Brooklyn, Bernie Sanders asked this question about Hillary Clinton: “Do we really feel confident about a candidate saying that she’s going to bring change in America when she is so dependent on big money interests?”
Clinton’s response was to invoke Barack Obama. “Make no mistake about it, this is not just an attack on me, it’s an attack on President Obama,” she said. “President Obama had a Super PAC when he ran. President Obama took tens of millions of dollars from contributors. And President Obama was not at all influenced when he made the decision to pass and sign Dodd-Frank, the toughest regulations on Wall Street in many a year.”
The message was that it is possible not to be corrupted by big money, and neither she nor Obama had succumbed to its influence.
But Obama has never said he was incorruptible. In fact, in his 2006 book, The Audacity of Hope, he eloquently described the subtle but real corrupting effect the fundraising process has on politicians, including himself:
Clinton’s response was to invoke Barack Obama. “Make no mistake about it, this is not just an attack on me, it’s an attack on President Obama,” she said. “President Obama had a Super PAC when he ran. President Obama took tens of millions of dollars from contributors. And President Obama was not at all influenced when he made the decision to pass and sign Dodd-Frank, the toughest regulations on Wall Street in many a year.”
The message was that it is possible not to be corrupted by big money, and neither she nor Obama had succumbed to its influence.
But Obama has never said he was incorruptible. In fact, in his 2006 book, The Audacity of Hope, he eloquently described the subtle but real corrupting effect the fundraising process has on politicians, including himself:
Goes on to provide context through excerpt from his book. Very sad in retrospect - but gives a window to the real frustrations of money in politics, and what appears to be a battle within himself that he dealt with.
It really bothered me that Hillary used Obama as a crutch last night over and over again. He isn't running, she is. These are issues that he campaigned wanting to change, and in the end - the steps he tried to make better even within the party were overturned by DWS and fully embraced by Hillary through the DNC. It's a pox on our own house.
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