And this will make it so much easier to go after McSame for being beholden to so many special interests.

Thank you, Barack!

♪♪♪

Top ten things that won't happen on the McCain campaign:
1) This.

I think Obama is right. He's done such a good job of keeping his campaign focused on his message that it would be a shame for a third-party to come in and derail it.

Nice work.

Just one of the many reasons I support Obama.

Keep watch to see if JSM possesses the same type of leadership.

This is the truest sign yet the that the paradigm has shifted. Big Money will no longer control Washington, the people will.

Obama runs the most tightly disciplined campaign that the Democrats have seen in a long, long time. And it's about damn time we had a candidate who knows what the hell he's doing.

This seems to be the clearest signal yet that Obama is opting out of the public financing system for the General. If he wants funds going to his campaign instead of independent 527's then obviously he plans on taking contributions for the GE.

The only possible exception is that he is going to try to use this as an example to McCain when negotiating parameters for both of them taking public funds. It would be like: John, see, it is possible to shut down 527's, so I expect you to do the same on your side, or I will let the 527's on my side loose to do whatever they want.

Meanwhile....we can expect more "Obama is a black, muslim, jihadist elitist" from the Republicans.

Add this to the very long list of reasons why Obama is an amazing leader.

Karl Rove:

I wonder why Obama wants all the money under his control, besides, isn't he stifling free speech?

Gotalife-

How's that for leadership?

This is good. We don't need amateur hour groups giving McCain an opening to criticize Obama as being hypocritical when he calls for a "new kind of politics" in the face of Republican smear tactics.

...Classy:

'An Ohio-based group of Democratic Hillary Clinton supporters say they’ll work actively against Sen. Barack Obama if he becomes the nominee, arguing that Clinton has been the subject of “intense sexism” by party leaders and the media.'

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0508/Clinton_backer_backlash.html

I think this is exactly the right thing to do. He keeps steering us in the right direction, the one we all know would be good for the electoral process.

I sort of hope that groups like move on manage to build up enough of a war chest to take on the swift boaters themselves if they do what they say they are going to do. Why go after McCain for what the swift boaters do, let Obama chide him for doing nothing? Let the Independents take on the swift boaters personally and expose who they are and what they are doing to the country. Make it impossible for them to hide behind a candidate.

Wow, I thought I was the only Diabolik reader..sei italiano/a?

PS TPM Ban 'Zilla

I hope this works out for the Dems, but it could just lead to multiple well-funded swiftboater groups on the GOP side blasting away at Obama with no comparable appartus to fight back.

I agree, I like this in theory but am a little skeptical how this will work when the swiftboaters haul out Wright etc. Obama has some limitations on how he can attack. Maybe the DNC will be enough.

Blue Heron:

By controlling the message, isn't Obama being like Bush/Cheney? Only letting out what he wants out?

I think that's really a stretch. What he is trying to do is to lift us out of the gutter of personal attacks and get back to real discussions of the very serious issues facing us ( there are very serious issues facing us). I think this whole campaign from Hillary to McCain has been affected by Obama's call for more substance and less tabloid story discussions. There actually has been more substance from all of the candidates than I've seen in previous elections. He doesn't want to be a hypocrite and let the independents make the attacks on McCain while he distances himself from them. I think it's a very brave and some may think foolhardy thing to do, but someone has to do it.

There are exactly three chances that McSame will follow Obama's lead and cut off support for the 527s on his side: Slim, fat, and none. While this proposal is admirable in theory, I share the concern of some on this thread that it could result in his being thoroughly slimed and smeared while McSame floats along, unscathed. Because, after all, his only chance to win is to distract voters from the real, consequential issues in this campaign with groundless (but often effective) attacks and smears.

This is either brilliant or stupid. One thing's for sure - we're going to find out which.

In related news, Barack Obama announced that he is officially changing his name to "James Earl Carter Jr." and will largely recapitulate the Carter Presidency if elected.

And you wonder why Democrats continue to lose elections? Unilateral disarmament through a combination of naivete and overweening vanity (as usual, Paul Krugman is prescient and spot on) and the Obamabots hail this utterly moronic decision like the Second Coming. While I do not want to see Democrats emulate the lying, scaremongering, and racist tactics of the Republicans, it would be nice to see them play hardball once in a while. Having third paries put on the truth on McCain and Republcans can only help the Democrats in the fall--especially since the Obama campaign disdains to do this. I guess it would interupt the Kumbaya chorus. I wish all you virtuous Obamabots lots of enjoyment in your post mortem of Obama's loss in a few months. My suggestion? After pointing a finger at a breathtaklingly supine press that is in the tank for McCain, take a good look in the mirror.

Obama really seems like he is just ahead of the game.

527s are useful for a campaign if you are having fund raising problems and/or just want to try to bludgeon your opponent in any way possible.

But, if you have a money making machine that can dwarf any 527 they suddenly become unnecessary and even potentially harmful to a campaign due to a lack of control.

Obama understands his, dare I say, "brand" and that he can't let it be compromised by an outside group, no matter how supportive that group is to his cause.

I take your point re MoveOn and have really come to respect what I perceive to be an underappreciation of their contributions to the Dems resurgence. But I wonder, if Obama is making this move for the sake of message discipline, wouldn't this also apply to MoveOn - wouldn't he ask that they stay mum too? If only so they don't have the "Betray-us" problem - which is their most recent, major mis-step and perfect example of clumsily stepping on the party message. I know that they have a track record of dogged independence - so it'll be interesting to see how they're 'handled' by the Obama campaign or if they'll be offended to be asked to stay quiet by the candidate they endorsed.

Someone's laughing, my Lord, cumbaya
Someone's laughing, my Lord, cumbaya
Someone's laughing,my Lord, cumbaya
Oh Lord, cumbaya

Someone's sleeping, my Lord, kumbaya
Someone's sleeping, my Lord, kumbaya
Someone's sleeping,my Lord, kumbaya
Oh Lord, kumbaya
Oh Lord, kumbaya

Confused. Why shut down the thing just because it can't participate in the Presidential election? Why not use the money to fund congressional races etc?

Oh well. There's always youtube - one of the most potent vehicles for mass-messaging yet.

And it's free.

Get clever enough, and it even gets broadcast on the tv.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8lvc-azCXY

Why does he think that the funds that would flow to the 527s are going to flow to him. I guess we will have to wait and see if this is a good move.

I worry about MoveOn, however. I'm not at all sure that he's going to let them get by. They're really not any different from the 3 groups he asked to step aside. I mean, one of those groups is a Soros project and Soros is one of Obama's first bundlers, as well as the founder of MoveOn.

I also worry about the accumulation of power, although I still have confidence that Obama intends to not abuse it. It is a lot of power he's assembled in a very short time, however.

It will be very interesting to see how hard this is going to be and whether he will be able to convince the most skeptical around the country.

Shrewd move.

• Control message
• Control money
• Consolidate power
• Corner McCain on multiple fronts: taking high road - no 527's, ability to control party and surrogates - which means Obama leads while McCain can't, show massive amounts of money coming into his campaign directly - giving air of invincibility, just to name a few.

November is gonna be a McCain smack-down.

Look folks . . .

Any man who is now willing to dress down Joe Lieberman in the well of the Senate will not need 527s to deliver a smack-down. That little instance--Obama delivering a little reminder at a time and place of his choice, timed for maximum visibility of HIS assertiveness is an excellent little vignette to consider for the campaign at large. Think about what you've seen during this campaign: the Obama campaign has seemed like they were one-step ahead of all of these tactics . . . because they were.

And if the Republicans think that they can cower him by broadcasting whatever version of the "Obama-mama" crap they can come up with . . . well, let's just see how well that "macaca" line of argument actually worked, shall we?