Reactions to Obama's sale of his word for $$...

I will keep this up at the top for the next few days. I expect anyone interested in good government, public financing and the effect of big $$ in politics to weigh in on this...

Washington Post: The Politics of Spare Change: Even $85 million wasn't enough to get Barack Obama to keep his promise.

David Brooks: On "Fast Eddie" Obama

Wall Street Journal: "This is the reward Senator McCain gets for becoming the flag-bearer for the modern public-finance crusade. He is going to be hugely outspent, even as he is "attacked" by Mr. Obama, a candidate who entered the campaign as a "reformer" and who will no doubt end a half-billion dollars later proclaiming himself to be even more of a reformer."

Public Citizen: "Public Citizen is deeply disappointed by presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama’s decision this morning to opt out of the presidential public financing system for the general election."

PoliticsNation: "One more observation on the money: The, well, audacity of it all. Break a campaign promise before the campaign is over, and the campaign takes not the defensive posture one might expect, but an offensive position, attacking McCain for the involvement of 527 groups (Which, legally, he has no control over and cannot communicate with) and the Republican National Committee. Too, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe is actually fundraising off the decision! "To compete, Barack has put his faith in ordinary people giving only what they can afford," Plouffe wrote in a fundraising email seeking 50,000 new donors by July 4. (Donors can even exchange an email with a fellow donor who will match their support. What is this, a dating service?)"

AP: Analysis: Obama chose winning over his word

Democracy 21: "Democracy 21 is very disappointed that Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) has decided not to accept public financing for his presidential general election campaign.

We had hoped and expected that Senator Obama would stick with the public pledge he made to accept public financing and spending limits for the presidential general election, if he was nominated, and if his Republican opponent also agreed to accept public financing and spending limits for the general election. These conditions have been met.

We do not agree with Senator Obama's rationale for opting out of the system. Senator Obama knew the circumstances surrounding the presidential general election when he made his public pledge to use the system."

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI): "This is not a good decision," Feingold said in a statement today. "While the current public financing system for the presidential primaries is broken, the system for the general election is not. The entire system must be updated."

Lynn Sweet/Chicago Sun-Times: Obama told Tim Russert at Feb. 27 debate he would "sit down with John McCain" to discuss public financing. Obama never did before opting out of system.