Barack Obama has been compared to many iconic figures in American political history. But last week we saw another aspect of the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee’s character and political style that ought to give every seasoned observer across the political spectrum pause.  Obama’s decision to break his word and opt out of the public financing system and the manner in which he justified that decision were Nixonian to the core.

The facts of the matter are simple enough.  Obama made verbal and written promises to accept public financing in the general election campaign if his Republican opponent would agree to do the same.  John McCain has indicated he will do so, even in the face of Obama’s reversal.  So, in his first consequential decision since becoming his party’s nominee Obama chose to break his word to the American people.  Richard Nixon would understand.  Obama is betting that his liberal allies and the media will too.

It is not just the fact that Obama will now be the first major party presidential nominee since Watergate to opt out of public financing in the general election that should raise eyebrows — though it makes the Richard Nixon comparison even more compelling.  In classic Richard Nixon style Obama chose to blame his reversal on his opponents than accept responsibility for the decision himself. Nixon always had some plausible sounding excuse to one up his opponents, to reverse his positions and to lower his standards.  That excuse was the same one Obama chose to offer in defense of his recent reversal — political expediency.

And even as he betrays his own professed principals Obama promises in soaring rhetoric that once he is in office he will work to enact a real system of public finance.  Those tactics are familiar to anyone who lived through the tragic presidency of Richard Nixon.

The real losers from Obama’s reversal will be the Democrats themselves.  Just as in 1972 when Nixon chose to run a re-election campaign separate from the national campaign of the Republican Party, millions of dollars will flow to Obama as opposed to his party.  Money that could help other Democrats will go to the already well-funded Obama campaign.  And in the end it will not influence the presidential race.  The outcome of the presidential contest will be determined by factors unrelated to money. Like Nixon in 1972 Obama may well win a great and historic victory.  However, he may do so in a manner that shortens his coattails and limits the number of Democrats he elects with him.

But Obama’s decision to break his word and forgo public financing has far deeper implications than diminished party coffers.  Democratic office holders and candidates will inevitably be forced to express their opinion of Obama’s decision.  If history is any guide, they will find themselves as they did during the Clinton presidency, “defending the indefensible.” This will damage their own personal credibility as they seek to justify and defend an action with which most of them disagree.

And it will cost Obama, too.  The public will be less likely to take him at his word going forward. Barack Obama has chosen to diminish his personal credibility for transitory and self-serving political gain.  That should cause his supporters and all those engaged in the public arena serious concern.

History and bitter experience teach us that politicians tend to govern the way they campaign.  There have been some disturbing signs in this respect where Obama is concerned.  He embraced his church and his pastor when it was politically convenient to do so and abandoned both when it was not.  He talks of bipartisanship, but in his brief tenure in the United States Senate he has never exhibited this trait on the major issues of the day.  And now he has chosen to break his word and divert resources to himself that could otherwise be directed to his party.

Like Richard Nixon before him, Barack Obama has chosen to campaign in ways that are self centered and inconsistent with his own professed values.  To be sure, in contrast to Nixon, he has not broken the law.  But like Nixon he has broken his word.

Campaigns tell us who a candidate is as well as what he believes.  And, last week Barack Obama looked and acted a lot like Richard Nixon.  That ought to concern his supporters even more than his opponents.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 at 10:28 am and is filed under Politics, Campaign, Presidential Campaign .