I’ve been having a running Clinton vs. Obama debate on Facebook (login/connection required.) Our latest sparring match was around the significance of the fact that Obama doesn’t take PAC or Lobbyist dollars. I thought I’d paste some of the conversation, here.

Said Joe:

Maybe you just aren’t seeing the big picture, Eric. If Obama is taking money from all these Lobbyist heads, and their families and their secretaries, et al. What’s the difference? In actuality, Obama is trying to hide the Lobbyist money he receives, which is more of a problem then being transparent and letting people know you take it. Right?

So, until Obama stops trying to hide the bundles of lobbyist money he gets — I think he’s the one to fear with special interests — don’t you?

And, on another note: Read this, maybe you’ll start to understand how Obama is really dealing with the special interests as well as veracity in advertising. It’s kind of sad to me that he is this desperate, even while ahead. Does he know something in his closet we don’t yet? Never saw a man on top so scared out of his mind of losing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4J2u3PHk5A

My response:

The difference is significant. People in any industry have personal beliefs. Someone who works for an oil company doesn’t necessarily believe in the political agenda of their company. Their contribution is like anyone else’s: colored by their circumstances for sure, but reflecting a whole spectrum of human experience. A lobbying operations or PACs in the employ of an oil company behave in a completely different manner: their interests are purely for the bottom line of corporations they represent. Lobbying operations and PACs are also much, much more skilled at turning their contributions into face time with the candidate and his aides. That is their job, and the money wouldn’t be flowing if they weren’t doing their job well.

So yes, I believe there is a big difference between a lobbyist contributing as an individual to a campaign and a lobbyist actually lobbying that campaign.

You’re right that there is a bigger picture, though. As I said, there is a more subtle signal to be discerned simply by looking at the industry that a personal contribution comes from. If I work at an oil company, I’ll make a contribution to a campaign for much more complex (and better, IMHO) reasons than the oil company itself, but my employment with the oil company will still skew my perspective.

To get at that signal, you can break out campaign contributions by industry:

http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/select.asp

You’ll find that Clinton generally out-raised Obama (which reflects the fact that a more substantial proportion of Obama’s contributions come from Americans not affiliated with any major industry) but that aside from that, the differences for most industries aren’t huge.

The places where there are differences, however, are telling. For example:

• Oil and gas: Clinton out-raised Obama by 40%
• Health Services/HMOs: Clinton out-raised Obama by 40%
• Tobacco: Clinton out-raised Obama by 210%
• Casinos/Gambling: Clinton out-raised Obama by 240%

And, the kicker:

• Lobbyists: Clinton out-raised Obama by a whopping 7500%

On the other hand:

• Education: Obama out-raised Clinton by 50%

I don’t believe that any one industry affiliation is worse than another, of course; everyone contributing in these figures is an American participating in the political system on his or her conscience. However, the aggregate numbers do tell us what industries expect to better and which worse with each candidate. Given the industries that I believe are over- and underrepresented in politics, today, Obama is the clear choice for me.

Related Posts:

• Mudslinging (March, 2008)
• Obama: So Close, So Far (January, 2008)
• Dennis Kucinich (May, 2007)
• Everything you need to know… (October, 2005)
• Dad’s Letter to Barack (July, 2008)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 10:44 am and is filed under politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.