CITIZENS UNITED CASE GETS TWO SHOTS IN THE ARM

When the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 this past January in favor of Citizens United against the FEC, Barack Obama didn't like it much. He voiced his displeasure directly at the Supreme Court Justices during the State of the Union. The argument that seemed to resonate with a majority of the public was that the ruling enabled big corporate interests, both foreign and domestic, to significantly alter elections.

That's not what this case was about........AT ALL. And there is a reason that Barack Obama is concerned. Politico reports that Obama is making campaign finance a huge issue this spring.

Aides say that with the momentum from the most complex domestic bill to pass Congress in 45 years, Obama now will push Congress to close campaign-finance loopholes opened by the Citizens United case…

People need to start asking why he is so concerned about this.

In any event, Obama's fight to render the Citizens United decision null and void took two significant blows on Friday. The New York Times reported:

WASHINGTON — Two federal courts here issued decisions on Friday addressing the impact of Citizens United, January’s big Supreme Court campaign finance ruling, on a new issue — whether the government may constitutionally restrict the size of contributions to groups that spend money to support political candidates.

One court said that individual contributions to advocacy groups known as 527s may not be limited. Another said that contributions to political parties can, though it said it was aware the resulting playing field might not be a level one.

Stephen M. Hoersting, a lawyer for the winning side in the first case, said the ruling represented a logical and welcome extension of Citizens United.

“The court affirmed,” Mr. Hoersting said in a statement, “that groups of passionate individuals, like billionaires — and corporations and unions after Citizens United — have the right to spend without limit to independently advocate for or against federal candidates.”

It would appear that the "loopholes" Obama is so concerned about closing seem to be getting closed without his help or intervention. Something else is afoot here. People need to step back and really take a look at why Mr. Obama might be so sensitive on this subject.

At the heart of the Citizens United case and why it was brought is a documentary film that was produced by a nonprofit organization which was subsequently not permitted to be advertised or marketed because of McCain Feingold. Citizens United produced a film called, Hillary: The Movie.

It was incredibly damaging to Hillary as her primary with Obama was starting to kick into gear in early 2008. With all of the baggage in Obama's past, a similar documentary about him could make Hillary look like a piker. Couple that with the fact that November 2010 has the makings of November 1994 on steroids. Obama is very concerned about groups like Citizens United tapping into that Tea Party anger and creating a buzz across the nation about a documentary that could do great political damage to not only Obama but to the entire Democratic party.

If Obama was so concerned about loopholes, he might look at those two decisions in New York on March 26th as evidence they're getting closed without him. I think it's safe to say he's not happy with either decision.

h/t to Special Guests