I'm no longer donating to Obama: "Obama says he may help Clinton retire campaign debt"

[woolldog]

That's it. I'm no longer giving money to Obama's campaign. I will vote for him, of course. But I feel he's betrayed the trust of his small donors who scraped and saved to donate to him. They didn't do that to repay a couple of multi-millionaires interest on their loans and a scuzzbucket like Mark Penn $4 million a month for his crappy advice. Most of that debt was racked up trying to destroy him after it was mathematically impossible for her to win.

I'm very angry about this. :mad:

http://www.kxrm.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=132563

Speaking with reporters, he's even hinting that he might help Hillary Rodham Clinton retire her multimillion-dollar campaign debt.

<snip>

But on the money issue, Obama says once a campaign is over, helping a strong opponent retire their debt can help unify the party. He says "you want to make sure that you're putting that opponent in a strong position" so they can work to win the November election.

[muntrv]

1. Obama, you don't owe Hillary squat.

[JoFerret]

35. It's a great idea.

send money now.

[thunder rising]

2. Let's use Bush economics and raise $100M to finish the campaign...if $11M is all it takes, check!

[woolldog]

7. doesn't this incentivize her to stay in the campaign?

He's basically said he will underwrite the remainder of her campaign. Doesn't this mean he's subsidizing her attempt to steal the nomination?

If she's unsuccessful, he pays her off. If she's successful, he's SOL.

[thunder rising]

12. Not if it's conditioned on her exit.

[PoliticalAmazon]

42. Reality Check: Hillary does NOT live up to her agreements...

Remember MI, FL?

[thunder rising]

9. She has done Barack a FAVOR bringing out all this bad press. Believe me, nobody cares about Wright

anymore. The the race issue has been laid out on the table.

We all know that Hillary's smile is for sale and we could sure use it in the next months. I'll donate.

[slinkerwink]

3. It's illegal for him to use his campaign cash to pay off Clinton's debt. He can hold fundraisers tho

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. He hasn't actually agreed to do it yet.

So maybe the thing to do first is let the campaign know that donations might start drying up if there's a likelihood any of those funds might go to pay Hillary's debt to the odious Mark Penn.

[Cha]

5. I think the operative word here is..

"may".

[nsd]

6. Obama isn't suggesting he'd be open to simply giving Clinton money he's already raised.

In fact, he can't really do that. Slate link

What's typically done is that the winner helps the loser with fundraising, possibly by setting up a joint committee. The donations you've already sent aren't going to be used this way.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

13. Problem is, Obama's about changing how Washington has done business in the past

...this is a slippery slope that may come back to haunt us in the Fall.

[hokies4ever]

21. People as gullible as woolldog

are the same ones who might have believed that Obama was a Muslim who was raised in a madrassa. You took one quote out of context, assigned meaning to it that it didn't have, and formed your own conclusions without critically thinking or fact-checking it. It is illegal for Obama to give Hillary your money, plain and simple.

[woolldog]

28. Not a helpful post.

No need for namecalling either.

[hokies4ever]

39. Stop spreading untrue rumors

if you can't even take 2 minutes to use 'The Google' before creating fear.

[woolldog]

45. what are you talking about?

This is hardly the first post on this topic. It's been on DU for a couple of days and I didn't say anything that hasn't been said already. Read the comments on the NYTimes Caucus site posted before the Update. Many people had the same reaction as me.

[woolldog]

29. thanks for that link nt

[my3boyz]

8. WHATEVER! Barack has been VERY good about managing the money

that we donated to him. He has not spent it on crazy things! If you can't trust him to do the right thing then fine..don't donate. Obviously, if he agrees to that it is because he believes she is doing great harm to him by staying in. Anyway, I trust Barack. I know he will make the right decision.

[Rubiconski2009]

10. O c'mon it's a LIE!! Wise up!!

[ShortnFiery]

11. Although I hope that Obama won't help HRC financially, I won't stop donating to his campaign.

He truly is a better man than me. :blush:

*I'm not a man. ;)

[MikeNearMcChord]

14. This might explain things. Why this probably won't happen.

from daily Kos
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/9/02356/80785
And a assist fro The Huffington Post
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/9/02356/80785

The Obama people do have an ear to the ground, and this idea is unpopular.

[bunny planet]

15. I wouldn't put it past her to have floated that story so that people would be hesitant to donate to

to Barack's campaign. Just paranoid about her continuing scorched earth policy I guess. Perhaps when donating you can specify you do not want any of your money to go towards paying Hillary back. That would surely be better than drying up our nominee's finances no? If enough people write to express their dismay with this, the Obama people might get the message.

[hokies4ever]

16. Hold your horses, not as controversial as you think

You're angry for NO reason. Now let me explain:

It's not like he's going to take the money donated to him and give it to Hillary. Not only does he NOT want to do that, but it is ILLEGAL. Yes, illegal. You following? What Obama will most likely do (which is often done) is he'll send out a couple of e-mails asking his donors to help with Clinton's debt. So you'll get an e-mail praising Hillary as a fighter and asking you to help her out. Obviously, you're going to delete that e-mail, but some people might donate to help Hillary. That's it. Some people will help her, some won't.

See how uncontroversial this is?

[islandmkl]

17. i don't know...as an Obama contributor...maybe the approach of:

..."Give Five to Make Her Fly!"...would be worth it at this point...

[Orangepeel]

18. Obama has run a really smart campaign. He'll continue to spend the money wisely

I don't think that he should or will repay Clinton's debt (although I'd be happy if he paid some of the small vendors she owes directly, if that's legal).

But if he does, it's because his campaign makes a smart calculation that it's more cost efficient than continuing to fight or that it will help him win the general. It sucks to be blackmailed, but to me, it's not a principle worth losing the White House for.

[RBInMaine]

19. Hold your hat. Nothing is official yet. Let's not jump the gun here.

[tpsbmam]

20. Write to the campaign....

Not donating isn't the answer. We need to support our candidate (and I'd have donated to Clinton if she were the nominee just like I did with Kerry in '04, as much as it made me ill to do so). Writing to the campaign may not do anything but if his supporters yell about it widely but never give the campaign the feedback, they're not really being fair to the candidate. If enough people write and this is truly a possibility, maybe it won't happen. '

Remember, he's in a tough spot here and this isn't an uncommon practice. Do I want my donations to go to pay off a mismanaged campaign run by a candidate who's put me (and many other people down) repeatedly? Hell no! But am I going to throw Obama under the bus if he does this? Hell no!

[earthside]

22. Calm down.

Helping a primary opponent retire debt usually means agreeing to attend/keynote fundraisers.

Obama's not going to have his campaign write a check to Billary ... and, I don't think that is legally permitted anyway.

[quiet.american]

23. I understand your feelings on this -- but this may be actually be a brilliant tactical move.

As much as some may loathe it, having the Clinton Dems on board would not hurt to put us over the top in the GE. Paying off Clinton's campaign debt may be just the thing to start "the healing." It's hard to imagine at this point, but perhaps some of her supporters may be dissuaded from voting for McCain as they remember that Obama helped a fellow Dem out from under the debt tree, as Hillary herself most likely would have done were the circumstances reversed.

[rocktivity]

24. It's a hoax designed to get Obama supporters to stop sending him money

Small contributions by us "little people" is his life's blood. Do you honestly think he'd give her "our" money with no regard to how we might feel about it? Look at EXACTLY what he is and isn't being quoted as saying:

He's responded to questions about...retir(ing) her multimillion-dollar campaign debt...and the possibility of her being his running mate by saying the inquiries are both premature until he wins the nomination.

But on the money issue, Obama says once a campaign is over, helping a strong opponent retire their debt can help unify the party. He says "you want to make sure that you're putting that opponent in a strong position" so they can work to win the November election.

It's the AP reporter who's dropping all the "hints!"


:headbang:
rocknation

[sniffa]

25. As I said many times..aw forget it

I would never donate to HRC directly, but if this part of the "healing process" then I'm totally in favor of it.

[BlooInBloo]

26. "Totally in favor" is going a bit far for me, but the greater good is in getting her the fuck out...

So I'm ok with it.

If you think about it, every cent he's spent so far has been toward the same goal - getting her the fuck out. So it's not like it's a change of policy or anything.

[Adelante]

27. If you don't want to donate, don't donate

But resolving Clinton's debt, IF Obama decides to do that, is not going to be done with our donations. He will raise NEW funds among his supporters for the purpose and I would think from much bigger fish than we are.

This is a bright shiny object. Stop wasting time and energy on it.

Stop bugging the guy and have some faith in his judgment.

He's got more important things on his mind than this.

Eyes on the fucking prize!

[WeDidIt]

30. Picked this up over at DailyKos

Once HRC comes to her senses, the two of them can travel the country having a series of Democratic Unity Dinners-- Obama high rollers who have maxed out to him can give $2,300 to HRC, and Clinton high rollers who have already maxed out to her, can give $2,300 to Obama. No money gets transferred from the Obama campaign to Hillary. The two of them speak at the dinner about the need to for Democrats to come together and focus on winning in November-- the White House and down ballot.

Clinton reduces her debt, Obama increases his cash advantage on McCain, frayed feelings amongst supporters and the candidates start to heal and Obama's rolodex gets bigger.

Can we painlessly reduce Hillary's debt? YES WE CAN!

Paying off Hillary's debt, raising money for Obama and unifying the party.

I can live with this approach and it is incredible in the integrity of the methodology.

[Alexander]

31. FEC laws say Obama CANNOT do that.

Relax. It's not going to happen.

[ruby slippers]

32. you have to be kidding me? If that is the case, I won't donate anymore either. I won't give a

penny to Hillary......let her go sell another book....or, Bill can go give another speech. He's full of hot air anyway.

[Stinky The Clown]

33. Do you, in hindsight, realize how silly this notion sounds?

[Doityourself]

34. Fuck that. Let her eat it.

[peace13]

36. Not gonna happen!!!!!

Check this out.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5909120

Had a message from the Obama campaign and they say that this would not be legal and that the idea is not coming form them. peace, Kim

[woolldog]

38. tks kim

the link is to a local tv station.

[peace13]

37. Is this link from FOX as in Faux news? n/t

[AZBlue]

40. It's another smear from the M$M and the Clintons. Don't fall for it.

[Hope And Change]

41. woolldog, did you read the article???

Let me quote from the article:

Update on Debt: If Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton would happen to broker a deal to help pay off her campaign debts – this remains a big if, aides said, because nothing has been formally discussed – the money would not be taken from Mr. Obama’s campaign account. Instead, he would have to make a fund-raising appeal on her behalf, asking people to contribute.

[woolldog]

44. thanks. I've since learned that.

But I didn't know that when I first posted. :hi:

edit: the Obama campaign should really address this because most donors will have the same reaction I did when this issue is raised.

[PoliticalAmazon]

43. I feel the same way. Fortunately, I've given close to my limit. My husband hasn't, though. n/t

[TexasObserver]

46. Obama has given no indication of using any of his contributors money for this.

He's only implied he might be open to helping her raise money to reduce her debt in the future, in events for that specific purpose.

Relax. Not one dime of money raised for Obama will be used for Hillary debts. Ain't happening.

[Yael]

47. Sounds like he has enough money for McCain and doesn't need any more assistance

from we the middle class then!

:thumbsup: