Obama Wants to See Citizens United Supreme Court Ruling Overturned

By Ed Pilkington, Guardian UK

30 August 12

In Reddit chat, president bypasses media to answer wide-ranging questions put forth by surprised internet users.

arack Obama has said he wants to launch a nationwide campaign to try to over turn Citizens United, the controversial 2010 supreme court ruling that allowed massive sums of corporate cash to flood the electoral process.

The president made his remarks in the middle of a chat with the internet community Reddit. He told the site's users: "Over the longer term, I think we need to seriously consider mobilizing a constitutional amendment process to overturn Citizens United (assuming the Supreme Court doesn't revisit it)."

Obama's suggestion that he might confront the issue of corporate money in politics head on is a reflection of how seriously Democrats are taking the huge surge in private funding in the 2012 election cycle. A handful of conservative billionaires have been pumping in tens of millions of dollars to saturate media markets in vital swing states.

The idea of overturning Citizens United through a constitutional amendment has been gaining steam in recent months. Such a move would be virtually impossible to achieve, as it would require ratification by two-thirds of the country's 50 states.

Obama acknowledged the difficulties, but argued that a push for an amendment would be valuable in itself. "Even if the amendment process falls short, it can shine a spotlight of the super-PAC phenomenon and help apply pressure for change."

The Citizens United comments were the most pointed of his remarks on Reddit. The web chat last about an hour, and was so popular with the community's millions of devotees that it brought the whole site crashing down.

"I Am Barack Obama, President of the United States," he began, following the protocol of Reddit's "AMA" chats almost laughably to the letter. For those lucky enough to be able to fight their way through the technical glitches, they were treated to a stream of Obama commentary on questions from the future of the web itself, to space travel and to the recipe of the newly brewed White House beer.

Lest anyone doubtrf that it was the real president tapping away at the keyboard, Reddit released a photo of Obama sitting at a computer, jacketless and with his top button undone.

"Internet freedom is something I know you all care passionately about; I do too," he wrote. "We will fight hard to make sure that the internet remains the open forum for everybody."

He said that his hardest decision in office had been to surge US forces in Afghanistan. "Any time you send our brave men and women into battle, you know that not everyone will come home safely, and that necessarily weighs heavily on you."

And he pledged to make sure "we stay at the forefront of space exploration... The passing of Neil Armstrong this week is a reminder of the inspiration and wonder that our space program has provided."

Obama's forthright comments on Citizens United were not replicated in other policy areas, however. He incurred the wrath of some Reddit members by choosing to ignore their questions about his use of drones to assassinate terrorist suspects abroad, as well as other hot-button Reddit issues such as the on-going war on drugs or Guantanamo.

He also incurred the wrath of those desperate to find out the recipe of the White House home-brewed Honey Ale. "It will be out soon!" was all he would say, though he did add: "I can tell from first hand experience, it is tasty."