This is a HUGE distinction and it is a distinction that, judging from many of the posts that I read on DNC, many democrats don’t understand.
“. . . companies, labor unions, and other organizations spend billions of dollars each year to lobby Congress and federal agencies. Some special interests retain lobbying firms, many of them located along Washington's legendary K Street; others have lobbyists working in-house. . . .”
For more information on Federal Lobbyists, beginning in 1998 for everyone from AAI Corp. to Zurich Financial go here:
http://www.opensecrets.org/lobbyists/index.asp
Often the Clinton Campaign strategists will try to blur the lines. A recent example of this happened during the Nevada caucus when Hillary made a political issue out of Yucca Mountain and misrepresented the truth by telling only half of it. She blasted Obama for taking money from Exelon, a nuclear power company in Illinois that supports storage of nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain.
Obama opposes Yucca Mountain. Exelon is one of the largest companies and employers in his hometown of Chicago. Obama has sponsored legislation that punished Exelon after unplanned waste releases in Illinois so to imply that they have him in his back pocket was a blatant misrepresentation of the truth.
Obama has never accepted any money from Exelon lobbyists or Exelon’s political actions committee EVER. The contributions to his campaign have all been from people who work at Exelon. He has never accepted contributions from Exelon as a corporate entity or PAC. But, thanks in great part to the Clinton smear, these important distinctions and truths were blurred over by the emotionalism of her attacks in associating him with a company that support Yucca Mountain as one of the storage facilities for Nuclear waste to exploit her own political gain.
SECOND OF ALL: HILLARY TAKES FEDERAL PAC MONEY AND OBAMA DOES NOT.
(Political Action Committees PACS are groups of individuals with common interests who want to advance a specific political agenda by contributing to candidates who share their views. Their common interest may be ideological, such as the National Rifle Association. It may be business-related: PAC's donors work for the same company, or belong to the same national trade or professional association such as the National Teachers Association. Corporations are barred from donating to PACS but people who work for corporations may donate up to $5,000 a year to a PAC.)
THIRD OF ALL OBAMA IS VERY ACTIVE IN CO-SPONSORING LEGISLATION FOR CAMPAIGN REFORM AND HILLARY IS NOT.
Obama is a co-sponsor of legislation to fix the presidential public financing system. S. 436. (This same legislation in the house is H.R. 776. )
Hillary has not added her name as a co-sponsor to this bill. You can go and check for yourself:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-436
Obama has also co sponsored and pushed S. 230: lobbying and Ethics Reform Act of 2007Hillary to date has not added her name to that legislation either. You can go and check for yourself:
As far as transparency of government:
Also, unlike Hillary, Obama has pledged to post all meeting as President online.*
(Difference between a secretive Scorpio and a Leo)
*Source
Link
This is the way that the America political system is even though I agree it needs to change but I can tell you because I work for one of the largest financial institutions have and are giving large contributions to both candidates and Barrack Obama has received a large percentage
but you must be aware that this "speech" has become an "industry," in which some people's "speech" has more weight than others.
In other words, if you have deep pockets, you can afford to have your speech "count more" in influencing legislation - the system has been perverted to the point where "speech" from individual citizens is not heard and not counted.
why should a corporation with lots of money count more than the average voters? that doesn't seem right. The process is too easily corrupted and needs more transparency.
This issue strikes at the heart of one of our fundamental american values: "no taxation without representation." We are taxed equally, and our voices should count equally.
Is the money all connected? at some level of course it is, but the fundamental difference is still valid: Barack Obama has set out to change the way things are done in Washington, and he realized you can't change it if you are beholden to the Lobbyists.