Obama blasts Supreme Court for freeing business to bankroll campaigns

Published on Saturday 23 January 2010 19:45

BARACK Obama yesterday launched an extraordinary attack on America's Supreme Court, saying a ruling on corporate donations to political campaigns this week "strikes at democracy itself".

The US President's uncharacteristic broadside was triggered by a 5-4 ruling by the court's justices on Thursday that removed long-standing campaign finance limits and allowed corporations to spend freely in presidential and congressional campaigns. In the ruling, the court's conservative majority said the limits had violated corporations' right to free speech. The decision is

expected to unleash a flood of money into this year's congressional elections.

Obama's fellow Democrats face a struggle to retain control of the Congress amid voter unhappiness over double-digit unemployment, a record deficit and political gridlock in Washington.

Obama, speaking in his weekly radio and internet address yesterday, said: "This ruling opens the floodgates for an unlimited amount of special interest money into our democracy. It gives the special interest lobbyists new leverage to spend millions on advertising to persuade elected officials to vote their way – or to punish those who don't. This ruling strikes at democracy itself."

In the 2008 election cycle, nearly $6 billion (3.7bn) was spent on all federal election campaigns, including more than $1bn from corporate political action committees, trade associations, executives and lobbyists.

Democrats, already reeling from the loss of what they saw as a safe Senate seat in a Massachusetts by-election last week, fear that a lot of the corporate money unleashed into US political campaigns by the ruling will go to Republicans, traditional allies of big business.

Republicans were already expressing optimism about erasing the Democratic majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate in November's elections.

Republican control of either the House or the Senate could cripple Obama's ability to get key policy initiatives through Congress.

Republican Party chairman Michael Steele has praised the court's ruling, saying free speech strengthened democracy.

But Obama blasted the ruling the day it was issued, and expanded on his criticism in Saturday's remarks.

The Supreme Court had dealt a powerful blow to efforts to rein in corporate influence and could even allow foreign corporations to "get into the act", Obama said.

"It will make it more difficult to pass common-sense laws to promote energy independence, because even foreign entities would be allowed to mix in our elections," the President said.

It also will impede efforts to pass financial regulatory reforms and will give the health insurance industry "even more leverage to fend off reforms that would protect patients", he said, referring to the industry's opposition to his efforts to overhaul the $2.5 trillion US healthcare industry.