Money Spent on Obama’s Campaign
The White House has said that President Obama’s goal for his 2011 campaign is to reduce the American debt and bring down the deficit based on shared responsibility and prosperity. Obama has agreed on the need for spending cuts while warning against trimming investments in education or infrastructure and emphasizing that the wealthiest Americans could stand to pay more taxes. He even declared in his weekly address recently, as Americans raced to file their taxes by the last deadline, “people like me don’t need another tax cut.” Also, a public opinion poll released by the Gallup organization showed 59 percent of Americans believe that rich people pay too little in taxes against 25 percent who said they pay the right amount and 13 percent who said the wealthy are overtaxed. President Barack Obama believes his approach will slice $4 trillion in 12 years or less off the debt.
Barack Obama became a candidate for re-election on April 4, 2011. For the 2008 campaign he raised $750 million, and he hopes to top $1 billion for 2012. Obama entered his first fundraising event in New York. He was expected to raise between $2 million and $3 million.
First of all, I believe that “you should practice what you preach,” so instead of raising 1 billion dollars for his 2012 reelection, Obama should use this money to promote employment or to approve an immigration law. If he does that, he will not have to work so hard cross-country to convince voters to support him.
I am sure that everybody wants to save the economy and all prefer a better budget to pay the debt and help those in need. But Americans want to solve more important problems like housing, medical care, unemployment, education, and energy saving rather than raise more money for a political campaign. Now voters are more concerned about deficit spending than usual. With the death of Osama Bin Laden, President Obama obtained an enormous and immediate political victory that gives him the advantage of having more time to plan and execute his work than to spend time on a very busy fundraising agenda.
Also, instead of having a full year campaign, why don’t candidates have three-month campaigns? That would be better not just to cut money spent on political propaganda, but also to reduce time lost in image exposure. Obama doesn’t need to spend millions of dollars to get public attention, not now that all Americans know who he is. For him it would be better to continue using the media like television or social media to get support than to travel from one state to the other. I know that sounds scary because who will want to risk losing a campaign because they did not have presence in certain cities or states? But here is when regulations must be applied.
There should also be a limit on the time and money candidates spend on campaigns. Political campaigns should not be longer than a period of three months and should not spend more money than any state budget for an educational program or medical reform. If politicians’ salaries get cut, a part of that money could be used to support their candidate and at the same time, they can secure their position too.
Moreover, another way for political candidates to win voter support is by proving in public debates what their proposals for the problems’ solutions are. I can assure you that if a political candidate participates in two or three public debates, people will have the opportunity to know and understand what the intentions of that politician are. The public will have an idea of what they can expect from them. The main purpose of a political campaign, after all, should be to get in contact with the citizens and ask for their support and this could be done with a lot less money.
Works Cited
McCormick, John.Bloomberg Business week. April 21, 2011. “Obama Fires
Up His Campaign”
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