Obama opted out of public financing today. He said that the system is broken. No doubt it is. I'm not going to hold this against him that much. A lot of his money is coming from individuals in small donations. The Republicans have traditionally held a large advantage in fundraising, as they represent the folks that have lots of money. And the mainstream media reports that the GOP has a lot more party money than the Dems, and that could be crucial, as that money is much less regulated than the donations to individual candidates. But just because he may have some justification for doing it, doesn't mean that it's good. It's a lesser of two evils thing, and we know that oftens these kind of choices do not end up good. But the Republican's bellyaching about this is nothing but jealousy over Sen. Obama's ability to raise money. So Obama doesn't really get a criticism from me about this particular decision, although we desperately need a level playing field for all candidates for president. (including the Green Party candidate)