President challenges Republican opposition on Campaign Finance Reform

This week, President Obama addressed an issue that is sure to raise a lot of controversy heading into the 2010 Mid-Term Elections: campaign finance reform. The president discussed his concerns stemming from the Supreme Court case, United Citizens v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 50 (2010), and outlined the various obstacles he saw from the Republican opposition this summer. In doing so, the President warned against the “corporate takeover of our democracy”:

“A group can hide behind a phony name like ‘Citizens for a Better Future,’ even if a more accurate name would be ‘Corporations for Weaker Oversight.’ We tried to fix this last month. There was a proposal supported by Democrats and Republicans that would’ve required corporate political advertisers to reveal who’s funding their activities. When special interests take to the airwaves, whoever is running and funding the ad would have to appear in the advertisement and take responsibility for it – like a company’s CEO or an organization’s biggest contributor. And foreign-controlled corporations and entities would be restricted from spending money to influence American elections – just as they were in the past. You would think that making these reforms would be a matter of common sense. You’d think that reducing corporate and even foreign influence over our elections wouldn’t be a partisan issue. But the Republican leaders in Congress said no.”

President Obama’s Weekly Address:

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