Obama Flip May Lead to Right Place

I didn't say much about the whole blow-up over Obama changing his mind about public financing for his campaign. I actually thought it was the right choice. Changing one's mind is not wrong when it leads to the right decision. However, it seems the conservatives thought it was worthy of impeachment before the man even gets nominated by his party.

Mark Davis, writing at Real Clear Politics, agrees with me.

So the McCain story is simple: The man who brought us the most egregious assault on free speech in recent political history with the oppressive limits of McCain-Feingold now, quite predictably, will accept taxpayer money to buy TV ads and observe the limits on spending that accompany such a handout.

The Obama story was equally predictable, but brings a delicious complexity. His campaign knows full well that it will run rings around Mr. McCain's in contributions and thus would be foolish to shackle itself with those pesky limits.

So we have the magnificent irony of Barack Obama, vigilant enemy of free markets and constant preacher from the book of vast government controls, opting to follow the path that allows him to spend as much as he jolly well pleases.

Is it a flip-flop? Yes, but flip-flops are never wrong when the change you make results in doing the right thing. I would offer the example of the seeming McCain flip-flop on expanded oil drilling, except it is not a flip-flop when circumstances like $4-per-gallon gas change the facts.

Mr. Obama should have come out and said he changed his mind, in order to give real people who want him to be president a chance for their contributions to count, which is impossible under the suffocating limits of public financing. Instead, he trundled out this dumb line about the system "not working." It works fine at precisely what it seeks to do - limit freedom.

Exactly.

Tags: Barack Obama, politics, campaign financing, Mark Davis, Real Clear Politics, John McCain, freedom