President Obama, who once called super PACs "a threat to democracy," on Tuesday urged his supporters to contribute to the super PAC created to back his re-election, Priorities USA, saying he needs the outside fundraising group to compete against Republicans in the fall.
Obama's campaign aides defended the president's reversal. The super PACs, outside groups that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of cash from corporations, unions and wealthy individuals, are already playing an influential role in the Republican presidential primary and most certainly will be used against Obama in the fall, they said. To fight the "dangerous" flow of outside cash, they said, Obama needs to raise his own outside money.
"The rules are what they are," said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, referring to the rise of super PACs, which are prohibited from coordinating their spending with the candidates they support. "The campaign has made clear that they cannot engage in this campaign, they cannot compete effectively ... if they play by a different set of rules."
Obama's decision invited a fierce backlash from Republicans, who circulated past statements the president made condemning the 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United that opened the door to super PACs. "I don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests or, worse, by foreign entities," Obama said in his 2010 State of the Union address, while some of the Supreme Court justices looked on. Later, he called the influx of corporate cash a "threat to democracy."
"Just another broken promise," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Tuesday.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus called Obama's decision "more evidence that this president will do and say anything to get re-elected.
"He's in full-campaign mode," Priebus said, "focused on saving his own job."
Former Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, the Democratic co-author of the 2002 campaign finance law that set limits on political fundraising, also blasted Obama for reversing positions on the super PACs.
"The president is wrong to embrace the corrupt corporate politics of Citizens United through the use of super PACs -- organizations that raise unlimited amounts of money from corporations and the richest individuals, sometimes in total secrecy," Feingold said. "It's not just bad policy; it's also dumb strategy."
Super PACs have already raised and spent tens of millions of dollars in the Republican presidential nominating contest. A super PAC backing front-runner Mitt Romney beat back a surge by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in Iowa by launching a barrage of attack ads. Gingrich responded with a super PAC of his own that attacked Romney in South Carolina, helping Gingrich win there.
This is the second time Obama has reversed himself on a campaign finance issue. In 2008, he vowed to abide by a public financing system that would have limited his spending only to reverse himself and raise record amounts of cash. That reversal appeared to have little or no effect on his ultimately successful campaign.
"The president's views of the influence of the Citizens United decision haven't changed," Carney said. "He is not saying the system is now healthy or good."
