President Barack Obama used his weekly Saturday morning
radio/Internet address to push his case against the Supreme Court decision
allowing more direct funding of campaign ads by corporations and unions,
calling it "devastating to the public interest."
According to a copy of the text supplied by the White House,
he pointed to his lobbying reforms and said that progress had been undermined by
the court's decision, which he said was a "powerful blow" to efforts
to rein in corporate influence on government. "This ruling opens the
floodgates for an unlimited amount of special interest money into our
democracy," he said.
The president said a "forceful bipartisan
response" would be a priority of his administration "until we repair
the damage that has been done."
Broadcasters looking for new ad dollars were sounding
hopeful last week that the flood of new dollars would be coming their way.
National Association of Broadcasters President Gordon Smith said Friday that he
thought that the court's decision was good for free speech and could be good
for broadcasters' bottom lines.
