David Axelrod, senior political strategist for President Obama, said
Tuesday that it is not hypocritical for Obama to encourage fundraising
for the super-PAC supporting his campaign despite his opposition to
the "big money" in politics.
"This doesn't mean that we believe this is the best way for the system
to function," Axelrod said on MSNBC. "The president's going to
continue to fight for ways to reform that system in the future, but
that's not going to happen in this campaign, and we have to live in the
world as it is, not as we want it to be."
The Obama reelection campaign on Monday night announced its support
of Priorities USA, a top Democratic super-PAC allowed to raise
unlimited funds. The campaign
will walk the line of the 2010 Supreme Court decision in the
Citizens United case — a ruling that made super-PACs legal and that Obama opposed — by
sending campaign officials to Priorities USA fundraising events.
Obama, Vice President Biden and their spouses will not appear at
fundraising events, however.
"The bottom line here is that the Citizens United decision was a bad
decision from our perspective, it did open the floodgates, but now
the rules are what the rules are," Axelrod said.
Axelrod doubled down on the arguments of Obama campaign manager Jim Messina, who on Monday said the decision was necessary to combat the super-PACs that are supporting GOP candidates. Axelrod raised the specter of Karl Rove and the billionaire Koch
brothers, who he said funnel money into anti-Obama
campaigns.
"We've got a stronger fundraising base among small donors than we did
even four years ago," Axelrod said, arguing the super-PAC will
supplement the grassroots fundraising.
"I don't imagine that it's going to be able to compete with the array
of guns pointing at us, but it may help offset that advantage to some
degree," he said.
