Obama finance hypocrisy overwhelming

Hypocrisy in any form is hard to take. When it is particularly naked, blatant and obvious, it borders on scandal.

So it is with Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's announcement today that he will not accept federal funds for his presidential campaign. He has vowed all along, and voted in his brief U.S. Senate tenure, to accept the total spending limitation contained in taking federal financing. In typical "do what I say, not what I do" fashion, Obama has discovered the internet and the ability to get 1.5 million people to send him small contributions, dwarfing the spending limits of the federal program.

So today Obama announced that he will be the first presidential candidate since the system went in effect after Watergate, to opt out of federal funds. He had earlier said he would take federal funds, but is going back on his word.

No one should really be surprised, because greed and avarice has marked his political career from Day One. His shady dealings with convicting influence peddler Tony Rezko, his "consulting" payments for 18 months from another lobbyist and the other typical Chicago backroom financial dealings in his early career show he is just one more garden variety politician, not a reformer or "new breed."

The public outrage that should accompany this announcement will be muted by a compliant liberal press, and was announced months early to have the brief burble of publicity out of the way well in advance of the Democratic national convention in Denver and the fall election campaign.

Last year it was discovered that Al Gore's stately southern mansion in Nashville was an energy hog, with utility bills putting it in the top 5% of all such homes in the U.S. He vowed to take energy conservation measures, and of course, to buy conservation credits to offset his carbon footprint. Guess what: a year later, he's still spouting the same environmentalist line, trying to put poor folks in straight jackets to curb their energy use--but the consumption in his mansion actually went UP 10% over the previous year.

This hypocrisy rivals that of Obama refusing to take federal funds. Liberal Democratic politicians talk out one side of their mouth, and act out of another.

Beware. Latch your pocketbook before Obama takes power. Wait until you see what he actually does, rather than what he says.