Who’s Your Daddy?
by digby
Throughout our ongoing discussions of why the President is so deferential to the Big Money Boyz despite the obvious electoral potential (not to mention policy success) of a more populist approach, I’ve been pointing out that the billion dollar campaign plus Citizens United pretty much explains it. I’m not even sure why we’re pretending anymore:
Facing an energized Republican Party and deep-pocketed conservative groups, President Obama is kicking off his 2012 reelection campaign with a concerted push for help from wealthy donors and liberal groups unbound by spending limits.
The strategy — which could begin in earnest as early as Monday with the formation of an official presidential committee — suggests a notable shift in emphasis for a president who has long decried the outsize role of money in politics.
Obama frequently points with pride to the role that smaller donors played in his 2008 election, when his campaign also openly discouraged spending by outside organizations. But now Obama finds himself seeking out the kind of big-money donations he has often criticized while encouraging independent groups to raise and spend unlimited money on his behalf.
Obama’s campaign manager-in-waiting, Jim Messina, has asked the party’s biggest supporters to raise $350,000 each this year, to be shared by Obama’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee, far higher than goals set during the 2008 cycle.
The effort could yield $140 million or more by the start of 2012, a pace likely to provide a major advantage to Obama and his party over potential GOP rivals. By comparison, Republican challenger Mitt Romney has set a minimum goal of $50 million for the primaries, though GOP strategists expect him to raise more.
Yes, one of the two parties will win and one will be even more subservient to business than the other. But both parties are completely under the thumbs of the wealthy, they know it, and most of them don’t have a problem with it. Indeed, I would guess some could even see themselves as Tea Partiers, following founder John Jay’s vision:
Those who own the country ought to govern it.
The influence of money in our system has always been outsized. But in this era of hugely expensive campaigns and now Citizens United, it’s dominating on a scale we haven’t seen before. And you can’t exactly blame politicians for assuming that they can keep the rabble sending in their tiny contributions as well, by providing some bread and circuses. It’s worked so far. And they are far easier to disappoint than the amoral Big Money Boys. Where are they going to go?
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