Obama Sells His Soul for a Party

The New York Times has a profile of the man behind the fundraising effort for the Democratic National Convention in Denver next month. His name is Steven Farber, and he just happens to be the head of the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, which the Times describes as, "one of the fastest-growing lobbying shops in Washington and one of the most powerful firms in the West." Now ordinarily this would not be news, a lobbyist raising money for a politician, political party, or political event. But as is the case with almost everything about the Democratic Party these days, and about its presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, it is not quite as simple as it appears.

Obama has made quite a show of his claim to be running a campaign free from special interest money. He claims to take no contributions from lobbyists and hits Sen. John McCain at every opportunity for his alleged ties to lobbyists. Now, as Sen. Obama's fundraising prowess is coming back to Earth a bit, and as the host committee for the Denver convention has fallen $11 million short of its fundraising goals, Sen. Obama prepares to accept the nomination of his party at an event bought and paid for by powerful special interests.

How bad is this turn of events for Obama? Consider that when the New York Times notices that the would-be Democratic president has no clothes, and says so, he must not only be naked, but standing behind a magnifying glass.

Mr. Farber’s vast contact list could prove crucial in raising the millions of dollars needed by the Denver host committee to showcase Senator Barack Obama and the Democratic Party in August in Denver. But Mr. Farber’s activities are a public display of how corporate connections fuel politics — exactly the type of special influence that Mr. Obama had pledged to expunge from politics when he said he would not accept donations from lobbyists. [...]

"Steve Farber is involved with a lot of high-level candidates and ones who have won," said Floyd Ciruli, head of Ciruli Associates, a Denver political consulting firm. "He’s famous for hiring ex-politicians, their children and ex-judges. He’s very good at making connections with people who have access to politicians."

One of those people with "access to politicians" who have worked for Farber's high-powered lobbying firm turns out to be Judy Black. If that name sounds familiar, it's because she is the wife of McCain campaign senior adviser and fundraiser, Charlie Black. Black made news recently with some...inartful comments he made about the potential effect on the election of another terrorist attack on the United States. But Obama has periodically called on McCain to drop Black and has made McCain's alleged ties to lobbyists a feature of his stump speech. How ironic then that Farber, the man who is raising the money to make Obama's coronation and torchlight parade rally possible, has helped put food on the table of a guy Obama considers to be reprehensible. Now which one is the pot and which is the kettle, Senator?

Farber isn't shy about his ability to tap into big special interest money on Obama's behalf. He knows what he is selling, and who he is selling it to, even if he is a bit shy about admitting who benefits from his connections.

"I have my list of companies, not only my client list, but companies throughout Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region," Mr. Farber said in a telephone interview. "We’ve got offices in Las Vegas and California, so I have clients that we can contact, and I have friends of clients that I intend to contact. And if they have given to the convention already, I try to get them to double their contribution." [...]

"The money to the convention doesn’t go to the candidates or the Democratic National Committee, but to the host committee to pay for the cost of the convention," Mr. Farber said. "So what [Obama] has said [about lobbyist connections] doesn’t inhibit it." [...]

"What I am now selling is Senator Obama and the excitement he has created in his candidacy," he added.

Whatever helps you sleep at night, Mr. Farber.

Of course, it's plain that what Farber is selling is access to Obama, wherever the check goes. And its similarly clear that Obama is willing to be sold. That isn't the new kind of politics Obama speaks of, it's the old kind and worse. It's the kind that brazenly and unashamedly lies to the voters for personal gain and the pursuit of power.

So, you go, Sen. Obama. Have that coronation party in Denver. Just know that when you sell your soul to the Devil, you never really get what you expect. And the Devil has a long memory.

Obama Will Sell Anything

The Obama campaign officially announced yesterday that Sen. Obama will accept the Democratic presidential nomination in an open air event expected to draw 75,000 people. The campaign takes pains to point out that free tickets will be available for the torchlight rally acceptance speech, but...

If you make a donation of $5 or more between now and midnight on July 31st, you could be one of 10 supporters chosen to fly to Denver and spend two days and nights at the convention, meet Barack backstage, and watch his acceptance speech in person. Each of the ten supporters who are selected will be able to bring one guest to join them.

This guy will sell anything. So much for the new politics. Obama's campaign is more motivated by money and fundraising than any campaign in recent memory. One wonders if this will continue into an Obama presidency.

"For a donation of $25 dollars or more, you could be one of 10 lucky people to be flown to Washington D.C. to sit in on an exciting intelligence briefing in the White House Situation Room. Afterwards, you'll be given an exclusive tour of the Oval Office and get to listen in on a secure phone call between President Obama and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Your whirlwind day will conclude with a special de-briefing by the president and the opportunity to personally sign one letter of President Obama's signature to the official roll back of the Bush Tax Cuts."

Apparently "fixing a broken public finance system" means "sell anything that isn't nailed down including my dignity and the dignity of the office in order to out raise my opponents" in Obama's language.

The Baracklaration of Obamdependence

Sen. Barack Obama spent the week leading up to the Fourth of July changing just about every campaign position he has taken to date. As the nation prepared to celebrate its independence from tyranny, Sen. Obama was declaring his independence from another kind of oppression-the oppression of principle and intellectual honesty. Sen. Obama, therefore, may find much to agree with in the following, with apologies to Mr. Jefferson and the Founders.

FROM CHICAGO, JULY 4, 2008

The unanimous Declaration of the democratic candidate for president of the united States of America

When in the Course of a presidential campaign it becomes necessary for one candidate to dissolve the political bands which have connected him with his previous positions and to assume for the electorate, the separate and equal station of general election candidate to which the Laws of Electoral Campaigning and Campaign Managers entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of average voters is unnecessary, lest that require that he should declare the causes which impel them to hold to principle.

I hold these truths to be self-evident, that all political positions are created equal, that they are endowed by their Holder with certain unalienable Principles, that among these are Votes, Control and the pursuit of Power. — That to secure said principles, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the will of the governors, — That whenever any Political Opponent becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the Candidate to alter or to abolish his positions, and to institute new Policies, laying their foundation on such principles and organizing them in such form, as to him shall seem most likely to effect his Image and Election. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Principles long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to be fooled, while fools are sufferable than to bother themselves by taking account of the positions to which they have been accustomed. But when a long train of mistakes and untenable positions, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to prevent his election, it is his right, it is his duty, to throw off such Policies, and to provide new Beliefs for his electoral security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of my Campaign; and such is now the necessity which constrains me to alter my former Systems of Belief. The history of the present Campaign is a history of repeated missteps and misjudgments, all having in direct object the establishment of a McCain presidency over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

I have declared my intention to redefine my Assent to the War In Iraq, the most wholesome and necessary for my public image.

I have adjusted my beliefs with respect to abortion, to secure votes among the less nuanced masses of the general public concerned with such trivialities.

I have made plain my embrace of the right to bear arms, except in my home city, and except under such circumstances as to make it practical for the public to avail itself of said right.

I have announced my intent to enshrine the policy of George W. Bush to eavesdrop on those terrorists and criminals of an international character in law, so that the public might see me as its protector.

I have sought to take credit for welfare reform, which I oppose, but nonetheless support the implementation of the same in any locale in which it may gain me votes.

I have reversed my abhorrence of capital punishment and endorsed the free exercise thereof in any case as the States may see fit, such that I may properly claim to be a man of the people in all matters of life and death, except in such cases as abortion, which I both oppose and support conditional on that issue's ability to win me favor in the press.

I have established a new precedent of funding my campaign from private donations and tributes, so as not to allocate such public monies as may be necessary to gain high office for myself and my associates.

I have steadfastly avoided any opportunity to present myself for debate with my opponent, obstructing the electorate from exposing my principles and positions, on any given day, to scrutiny.

I have affirmed my fidelity and brotherhood with innumerable campaign associates and employees, who being solely concerned with my election, have made inartful statements or been proved to have been in inconvenient connections, and have disowned same as the time and occasion required.

I, therefore, the Democratic candidate for president of the united States of America, in Chicago and Denver, Affirmed, appealing to the general election voter for the rectitude of my intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the Rules and Bylaws Committee of the Democratic Party, solemnly publish and declare, That this Campaign is, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent, that the candidate is Absolved from all Allegiance to Principle, and that all political connection between him and any previously stated Position, on any issue as he may see fit, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as a Free and Independent Campaign, shall have full Power to Vacillate, Equivocate, Prevaricate, establish New Principles, and to do all other Acts and Things which Politicians may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of the Mainstream Press, I pledge to each voter my Lies, your Fortunes, and my sacred Office.

Barack Obama, Illinois