Top 8 Obama Quotes on Public Funding

In the spirit of yesterday's Inauguration, You Street presents a collection of President Obama's top eight quotes on public funding and money in politics.

1. "I also believe that if we're serious about change, we need to have a real discussion about public financing for congressional elections. Because even if we can stop lobbyists from buying us lunch or taking us out on junkets, they'll still be able to attend our fundraisers - and that's access the average American doesn't have."
— Remarks on the floor of the U.S. Senate by Sen. Barack Obama in support of the Honest Government and Leadership Act, August 2, 2007 (Link).

2. "Ultimately I think the what we're gonna have to do is institute...public financing of campaigns. And Dick Durbin and myself and others have introduced a bill. Dick, I know, is at one of the house parties. [He] has crafted a very intelligent approach to public financing of campaigns."
— Remarks at Town Hall forum by Sen. Obama, March 31, 2007

3. "You got these $10,000-a-plate dinners and Golden Circle Clubs. I think when the average voter looks at that, they rightly feel they're locked out of the process. They can't attend a $10,000 breakfast, and they know that those who can are going to get the kind of access they can't imagine"
— Cited on NBC's Meet the Press, January 22, 2006.

4. "The basic idea is that we want our judges to been seen as impartial and...willing to serve for the benefit for the public."
— Remarks made in 2002, when Obama sponsored legislation to create a public financing system for judicial elections in Illinois. Jermain Griffin, "Plan Would Revamp Judicial Campaign Funding in State," Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, April 26, 2003.

5. "I agree with the campaign reform model in Maine and Arizona, which provides public funding for qualified candidates who agree to spending limits and to stop accepting private contributions, and I believe we need such reform at the federal level. I will make passage of such legislation one of my priorities in my campaign, and in my presidency if elected."
— Common Cause questionnaire, October 29, 2007

6. "I support public financing and will work to make it viable. The decision not to participate in the public financing system wasn't an easy one — especially because I support a robust system of public financing of elections."

"I wholeheartedly agree with the idea that we need to limit the influence of big donors on campaigns, and I've co-sponsored legislation to fix the system — legislation Sen. McCain does not support. I am firmly committed to reforming the system as president, so that it's viable in today's campaign climate."

— Obama, "The system is broken," USA Today, June 20, 2008

7. "And so the one thing I want to just be clear about is part of the analysis for all of you is who's got a track record on doing this? Here in Illinois I passed the first campaign finance reform in 25 years right here in Illinois. We just passed an ethics reform bill that is going to allow you to see who's bundling...So we can take concrete steps right now. Now, I agree that our long-term goal has to be public financing..."
— Yearly Kos Candidate Forum debate, August 7, 2007

8. "Ultimately, what I'd like to see is a system of public financing of campaigns, and I'm a co-sponsor of the proposal that's in the Senate right now. That's what we have to fight for."
— At a debate on MSNBC, January 16, 2008

9. "In every election, politicians come to your cities and your towns, and they tell you what you want to hear, and they make big promises, and they lay out all these plans and policies. But then they go back to Washington when the campaign's over. Lobbyists spend millions of dollars to get their way. The status quo sets in. And instead of fighting for health care or jobs, Washington ends up fighting over the latest distraction of the week. It happens year after year after year."

"We can be a party that says there's no problem with taking money from Washington lobbyists — from oil lobbyists and drug lobbyists and insurance lobbyists. We can pretend that they represent real Americans and look the other way when they use their money and influence to stop us from reforming health care or investing in renewable energy for yet another four years."

"Or this time, we can recognize that you can't be the champion of working Americans if you're funded by the lobbyists who drown out their voices. We can do what we've done in this campaign, and say that we won't take a dime of their money. We can do what I did in Illinois, and in Washington, and bring both parties together to rein in their power so we can take our government back. It's our choice."
— Evansville, IN, on April 22, 2008

Bonus quote:

"[Obama] cannot fix [public funding] by embracing it in its broken state. He can, however, make it a priority as president to fix it through the reform legislation he has co-sponsored -- and he has made that commitment."
— Nick Shapiro, campaign spokesman (Brian C. Mooney, "Public Funding of Campaigns at Crossroads," The Boston Globe, November 1, 2008).

And just for fun, here's a word tree of President Obama's Inauguration speech:

Quotes collected by Public Campaign and Common Cause. Photo by the Presidential Inaugural Committee used under Creative Commons license.