This is a response to a D.C. Examiner editorial criticizing Barack Obama for his reversal on public financing:
Re: "Obama as Saint Flip-Flop," editorial, June 24th.
You claim that Barack Obama's decision to forgo public financing despite his vow to sit down with the Republican nominee and reach an agreement "is just another brazen example" of "double-talking politicians in both major political parties." This is nonsense. Ralph Waldo Emerson famously wrote, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." When Obama made that promise about public financing, he obviously could not imagine that his campaign would prove to be remarkably adept at rasing millions not from well-heeled special interests, but from common, ordinary citizens. For him to adhere to his previous position in light of changed circumstances would be an exercise in foolish consistency that would no doubt be adored by your editorial board but would compromise the advantage he enjoys over the cash strapped McCain campaign. Obama would be ill-advised to fritter away an advantage that Democratic presidential nominees rarely enjoy. As for your ingenuous charge of flip-flopping, John McCain hardly has clean hands in this area, given his sundry reversals on tax cuts, off-shore drilling, the foreclosure crisis, just to name a few.
Craig Taylor
Alexandria, Virginia
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