I'm pleased to announce today that over one million people have donated to my campaign -- a milestone achieved by no other campaign in history. I'd like to thank the people who are making this campaign possible: The ones who have donated, and the millions more who've given their time, their energy, and their hope that together we can change our politics.
I'd also like to talk today about public financing of campaigns. And about a pledge I made many months ago: That if I were the Democratic nominee for President, I would work together with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election.
Now, my supporters and I still have a lot of work to do to win the nomination: There are millions of people in Texas and Ohio, in Vermont, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and other states whose voices haven't been heard yet. It's very early to discuss how I'd campaign if I were the nominee. But I'll talk about it today because John McCain has been talking about it, has been calling on me to honor my pledge, and I want to respond.
I stand by the pledge I made.
I am willing to work together with Republicans, Democrats and independents to clean up our elections. And clean election laws, like the one in John McCain's home state of Arizona, help make sure our politicians are concerned about millions of people instead of millions of dollars. That's why I worked on ethics reform in the Senate, and in Illinois: To change our politics.
So when I say I'm willing to work together with Republicans, I mean it. But Sen. McCain doesn't understand when I talk about "working together".
Because "working together" is not how John McCain operates.
He's a maverick, he says — and I suppose if your party is taking the country into a war that never should have been fought, or if you're giving tax cuts to the wealthy who didn't ask for them, then going alone in a different direction might not be so bad.
But the last thing America needs is another president who fails to find common ground with the people he disagrees with.
The last thing we need is another president who can't work with his opponents.
The last thing we need is another president whose idea of "working together" is that you do what's best for me.
That's not what America needs from our president. It might have worked for McCain as a Senator, but we don't need any more of it in the White House.
So when John McCain proposes I send back the donations that over a million people have given to my campaign, and that we both take public financing — while a handful of his supporters put a quarter billion of Swift Boat money into Ari Fleischer's hands — I say "no thank you". When I talk about working together to ensure a fair election, that's not what I call fair.
When Sen. McCain agrees to public financing for his primary campaign, takes out a bank loan using public money for collateral, then invents a loophole and says he's opted out of public financing, I say, that's not what I call a clean campaign.
And when John McCain says I'm not honoring my pledge to work with him on public financing, to pursue an agreement with him, I say "John, that's not what I call working together."
If John McCain wants a clean and fair election, we'll have one.
If he wants to debate issues that affect millions of people's lives, we will.
But if John McCain and his supporters don't want to talk about policies — if they'd rather talk about whose wife is prouder of our country — then I look forward to John's debate with Michelle. And I think she'll win it.
So if John McCain is the Republican nominee, and if I'm the Democratic nominee, I'll make every effort to work with him — and to reach an agreement that makes our election clean, fair, and publicly financed. But if John were serious about taking me up on that pledge, his first step wouldn't have been to reach out to me through the media. His first step wouldn't have been to say I've gone back on my word unless I agree to public financing on his terms, with his loopholes. Those aren't the actions of a man who knows how to find common ground. The Oval Office would bring out the worst in John McCain, and we can't afford that — not after eight years of the worst president, the worst policies, and the most bitterly divisive politics of our lives.
We don't need another president who takes an issue we all agree on, and tries to use it to divide us and score political points. We've had eight years of that, and I'm running for president because it's time for a change — and together with millions of people, we're working to make that change happen. Thank you.
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