New York Times Blasts Obama Assault on Chamber of Commerce

The NY Times quoted Barack Obama during a campaign stop Thursday as saying, "Just this week, we learned that one of the largest groups paying for these ads regularly takes in money from foreign corporations,” referring to the Chamber of Commerce. “So groups that receive foreign money are spending huge sums to influence American elections.”

What the president neglected to mention was that groups that sent him huge amounts of campaign donation for the 2008 election also regularly take money in from foreign groups; most notably: union conglomerates such as the AFL-CIO and the Sierra Club.

Indeed, foreign monies cannot be used to fund political motives under current campaign finance law.  Obama was under the same attack during his 2008 campaign for presidency when he was charged with taking contributions from foreign corporations, although none of the claims turned out to be substantiated.

In this current case, there is simply no evidence the Chamber violated any laws as the president maintains.  The chamber keeps separate financial accounts in very proper order to prevent the illegal allocation of resources for just this reason.  In response to the media frenzy on this topic, Bob Bauer of the White House Counsel stated Friday, “The president was not suggesting any illegality.” However, if the president, in making his accusation, was not suggesting any illegality then it seems that it would hardly be worth mentioning to the public.

The chief lobbyist for chamber accurately summarized the situation Obama has put himself in when he said, “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”

Read more on this story here: NY Times: Topic of Foreign Money in U.S. Races Hits Hustings