A week after his last money plea, Obama asks everyone for another $5

It seems like only a week ago that The Ticket was whining about Barack Obama whining that after raising $605 million through September to buy the presidency, he was asking all of us one last time for just $10 more for some reason.

And we figured out that, October money aside, he'd have to spend $12.5 million a day just to unload September's haul by Nov. 4.

The Democrat is already outspending the Republican by three and four-to-one, which if it was the other way around would surely be unconscionable.

So last night Obama dumped several million bucks on several TV networks, which they don't mind, to talk at us slickly for 27 minutes about his change that we need.

(Transcript and video here.)

And when that was over, pingo, here comes another e-mail from Windy City HQ. You'll never guess what. He wants more money.  More. Still.

It was a blessedly short message. He called us by our first name and signed only his first name; so we must be pals. He put the entire fate of his historic campaign in our hands. "The campaign is in your hands," he wrote.

Which is a pretty big responsibility, on top of adjusting to a Pennsylvania team winning a World Series.

The good news is he only wants $5 from each of us this time. (But, alas, no car magnet this time.)

$605 million here. And $605 million there. Pretty soon, this change business is getting kinda expensive. And we haven't even gotten to the increased taxes part of any new administration.

Barack calls this money pitch "a donation for the Final Push," which we were kinda thinking or hoping was last week. So next week we'll probably get a plea for the First Push for the Next Drive.

Enough already!

(Another thought: Maybe it's not the $5. Maybe it's really the names, addresses and e-mails they're after now for the ongoing political operation. The five bucks is just frosting.)

(UPDATE: A day later and we just got another pitch, this one from Michelle Obama, for five more dollars.)

--Andrew Malcolm

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Photo credit: CafePress.com

Comments

[Loretta]

Unlike taxes,the great thing about donations is that YOU DON"T HAVE TO GIVE. Are you really faulting the guy for just asking? If you want to fault anyone, it should be the Republicans for whipping up Democrats into a donating, voter-registering frenzy. And compare it to how money flies around in our society at large: after giving money for leukemia and MS ONE TIME, I have been baraged by their mailings ever since. Arent't the constant commercials, print ads, ads on taxis, and ads on the sides of buses that urge us to buy things we don't need much much the same?

[chimera]

I find BO's breaking of his promise to accept public financing, which was a way to clean up politics and limit this gross kind of spending, to be appalling. The amount of money he is spending to get a squeaky lead shows he's not the juggernaut the media keep calling him. He is just buying votes. He hasn't spent enough to get my vote yet, and I have been a registered Democrat for 31 years. I don't vote for someone who is pro-death penalty, pro-FISA, anti-gun control, anti-GLBT, misogynistic, anti-affirmative action, and so incredibly narcissistic he takes it to new levels.

[Mia]

Never in history has the American public stepped up and financially supported a campaign like this. Instead of finding a way to demise our efforts, (including Obama's) we should be applauded for showing the system we are not joking. No one gave if they couldn't afford to. Yet we proved strength comes in numbers, otherwise, the republican terrorist message would have seeped through the minds of millions. I think that it is brilliant that we, the people, own this campaign. If someone has it to give, they should. If you don't have it, close the email and move on. Power to the people.

[Carol]

He isn't in need of the cash, but it is the number of donors that counts. Also, people probably put their vote where they put their money.

I hope Obama and the Democratic Congresspeople swamp the election. We need to quickly get this country moving and working for the people.

PS Do the polls catch all the young people who only have cell phones?

[Valerius]

Boy, its amazing how much money that down-trodden middle class has to donate to the Obama campaign, isn't it? I mean, the way Obama talks about them they can barely feed their kids. If they have so much money to donate, maybe they don't need the handout that will come from the confiscation of income from the wealthy.

So Barack wants to take money from the wealthy and give it to the middle class...I guess so they can donate even more money to Obama?

Obama has more than 6 times the money McCain has and yet he wants more. This is the same guy who complained about the problems with campaign financing and pledged to take public funds. All I know is McCain kept his word, Obama did not. So how do we know Obama is telling the truth about anything when he spends his private financing on 30 minute infomercials?

Obama is not change. He is more of the same Washington politics where money talks and the people pay the price.

McCain does what he says. Obama says one thing and does another.

[Katie]

I totally agree with your blog about the campaign money. In light of our current economic crisis I find his spending to be irresponsible and insulting to the mother who cant feed her children or to the family of 4 that is living in their car because the banks kicked them out of their home. I know that these guys have to run a campaign... but $605 million... that could make quite a dent in a national financial issue. Oabama has oversaturated the media with his fluffy speaches that do absolutely nothing to affect me, the undecided voter, in this election. I have NEVER wanted election day to get here as much as I do now.

[Sherry]

Yes, Loretta, I think Andrew IS faulting BO for asking for MORE money, and so am I. I've never seen such greed in all my life! I didn't watch his infomercial last night, and if he's elected, I won't watch TV until he's out of Washington unless somebody invents a television BO filter.
McCain/Palin

[Randy]

It's the attitude! Raise money by whatever means possible, taxes, donations, and then redistribute it in the form of information that the poor need. I guess the rich media moguls who are actually getting the money will be taxed for it. Kind of the old, "here hold this bag" idea.

Did Obama use his 30 minutes to tell people who need money how to get it without him? What did Obama do to help those who need help today? There is a Chinese saying, 'In a revolution, grab whatever you can'. It seems that this is the key feature of Obama's campaign and policies.

[PookyBear]

"Are you really faulting the guy for just asking?" Yes! I also fault professional beggars and telemarketers for asking over and over and OVER again. It's the same thing every political season--the party that's on top suddenly justifies every despicable, hypocritical, and stupid thing their candidate does. And this time it's the Democrats' turn.

[Papa Ray]

Just remember that Obama always looks to the futrue (just ask him) so he is thinking that even if he wins, he will need that little bit extra to loan to the Dems so that they can get more congressvarmits elected.

Of course if he loses, he will need the money for his ol' lady...cause she is going to be super pissed.

Plus, he might need some money to run for Senator or even President again.

Papa Ray

[sigh]

"If you want to fault anyone, it should be the Republicans for whipping up Democrats into a donating, voter-registering frenzy."

Should read: "If you want to fault anyone, it should be the Republicans for whipping up all these illegal untraceable foreign donors coming through Obama's website."

There. Fixed it for you.

[Robert Haney]

@ Loretta:

Ummm...you ARE aware that McCain took public financing and locked his "massive spending" to 84 million, right? And that McCain and Obama had a written agreement to both do the same. The same agreement that Obama decided to just ignore when he figured out the massive amounts of money he could rake in by dropping the agreement cold with a bunch of nonsense excuses that haven't come to pass. How could that in any way be blamed on republicans? Really?

[JWF]

Look at the bright side. This time next year he'll just confiscate it from you so you won't have to deal with those pesky requests.

[Joe Kool]

Why doesnt Obama just ask for donations from all the billionaires and hollywood millionaires and not raise taxes? After all many of them including Warren Buffett say they dont mind paying more taxes. If so, why dont they just pass the hat? Obama could cruise the nation collecting mega bucks. If hes raised $1 billion for a little old campaign surely he could do more. $1 billion is pocket change to Warren Buffett and George Soros.

[Colorado]

Don't complain Democrats, and suck it up. You want the Commie Dude in office don't you?

Anyone with half a brain would not vote for this guy.

Colorado

[Mark]

Now thats change you can believe in!

The most expensive campaign in the history of politics. The largest 39 days (#1-#39) of campaign spending in the history of politics.

Yet most people think he will not raise taxes or increase spending. Just look at his campaign. At least after the election he will not have to ask for your money, he can just take it.

How is liberal spending policies working in CA today. Just look around.

[Joanne600]

Here's a fact for you. Obama is running countless commercials in the very red state of South Carolina which will vote overwhelmingly for McCain. Obama doesn't need more money he just needs to spend it more wisely. He'll spend our tax dollars just as wisely. God help us if the socialist comes to power.

[No Place Left to Hide]

With all due respect, I think I'll allow billionaires such as George Soros, the Saudi Royal Family and Warren Buffet to continue to finance Obama's greedy campaign since they have much more to gain than the typical $5 donor does! Ironically, Warren Buffet pays himself a comparitively meager salary of $100,000 a year - the remainder of his vast wealth tucked safely away in tax free charitable foundations and trusts. Remember folks: income tax isn't a wealth tax! It only hurts the little people who are trying, through hard work and NEW income, to increase their own wealth above and beyond their current lot in life. Billionaires like the Kennedy family, Warren Buffet, George Soros and Oprah Winfrey are going to do just fine in an Obama administration, thank you very little.

[Free America]

Get used to this if he gets elected. Every year he will say he needs more and more. He'll do that until we are all broke.

[Mark B.]

So what if he asks for money? So what if people give? So what if he raises more than he'll ever need? It's not like all that campaign money goes into his personal account when it's over. Reasons he needs extra money: 1. Cover an losses after the accounting is complete and he has to refund ineligible donations, 2. Assist other democratic candidates in critical races in the mid-term elections, 3. Jump start his re-election campaign - you know, since he's going to win this one and all. I've happily given $25 a month since the primaries, and just because of your article, I'm giving an extra $5 right now. Why? Because I'd rather spend a grand now to get our country out of this mess than lose a grand a year or more in the next four years with idiot senior and idiot junior at the helm. I mean, at least Dick Cheney has a brain - it's the brain of a sociopath, but he has one. Having McCain and Palin in the White House would be Dumb and Dumber: The Reality Show... wait a minute, why didn't they try that tactic. America loves them some Survivor.

[Beddgelert]

At some point all of you people sending him money will realize he is a professional con-artist, all flare not a bit of substance, its like buying a pet rock. The reality is; if he gets elected his four years in office (if he stays in for the duration) will be the longest period of time he has ever held a job. This whole notion of change and hope is pathetic, I can't understand how so many people have fallen for it.

[Mark B.]

Let's stop being so politically correct and just state the cold, hard facts. John McCain is an ignorant, witless fraud, riding on the coat tails of daddy and granddaddy's success. He graduated at the bottom of his class, yet somehow made it into pilot training. He crashed planes before and during the war, and when he was captured he violated every single article of the Armed Forces Code of Conduct. When he was released, he made a career of the amalgam of his family's history and his "War Hero" status - the latter of which is undeserved. I proudly and honorably served my country, and I take it as a direct insult every time I hear him tout his experience as a POW as a measure of his readiness and experience. The only thing he's ever been ready for is the easy way out. I am not a Barrack Obama fanboi, and I am the first to admit that he has character flaws just like the rest of us; however, he is intelligent, informed, and calculated. That is what this country needs right now, and even if you don't like Barrack Obama, you have to see it is better than the alternative: a man who would sell out his brothers in arms and betray his country for a softer bed and a little less torture. People aren't donating to Obama's campaign because they're deluded; they're donating because they want to do everything they can to make sure we don't have four more years of tyranny.

[vicsmith]

That's right Loretta, get used to giving your money to him now, others later if he wins. Great choice. And you compare donating to a cancer and ms foundation to giving money to someone who spends over $12 million a day on a campaign. Wow, just wow.

McCain/Palin 2008

[HillaryVoter4McCain]

Wow, is this tsupposed to be the LA Times idea of a hard-hitting piece on Obama. Why not just bludgeon him with unicorns and candy?

[Haint]

Here's an idea: If you don't like that he is asking for more money, don't donate.

Its that simple.