Newsweek: Obama's Oil Spill: "A Little Too Slick"

Obama's Oil Spill
Obama says he doesn't take money from oil companies. Factcheck.org says that's a little too slick.

Read the 4/1/2008 Newsweek Article.

Excerpt:

Our problem comes with this statement:

Obama: I don't take money from oil companies or Washington lobbyists, and I won't let them block change anymore.

It's true that Obama doesn't take money directly from oil companies, but then, no presidential, House or Senate candidate does. They can't: Corporations have been prohibited from contributing directly to federal candidates since the Tillman Act became law in 1907.

Obama has, however, accepted more than $213,000 in contributions from individuals who work for, or whose spouses work for, companies in the oil and gas industry, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That's not as much as Sen. Hillary Clinton, who has received more than $306,000 in donations from people tied to the industry, but it's still a substantial amount. [But at issue is Obama's LIES that somehow he's better than Hillary or McCain. If he takes money, he takes money. Why LIE about it?]

Here's a chart we made, using the OpenSecrets.org database, of contributions to Obama from individuals employed by some of the largest oil companies in the U.S. Our numbers are conservative because the database doesn't include donations of less than $200 (federal law doesn't require the reporting of donations below that amount), and we haven't included sums donated by the spouses or other immediate family members of the employees. Additionally, we haven't included donations from people who work at smaller firms in the industry.

Oil Company Total Individual Contributions
ExxonMobil $30,850
Hess $5,200
Shell $9,900
Conoco Philips $4,300
Chevron $9,500
BP $6396
Total $66,146

When the Clinton campaign criticized Obama's ad, calling it "false advertising," Obama's campaign quickly noted that he didn't take money from political action committees or lobbyists.

SOUNDS LIKE A FLIP-FLOP TO ME!