Interesting decision. To quote The New York Times, “It marks the first time since 1976 that a major party presidential candidate has rejected public financing for the general election.“ (In other words, this has never happened since preisdential campaign public financing began in 1976.)

Obama certainly does believe in change—he changed his mind on public financing. Resurrected Obama quote: “In February 2007, I proposed a novel way to preserve the strength of the public financing system in the 2008 election. My plan requires both major party candidates to agree on a fundraising truce, return excess money from donors, and stay within the public financing system for the general election. My proposal followed announcements by some presidential candidates that they would forgo public financing so they could raise unlimited funds in the general election. The Federal Election Commission ruled the proposal legal, and Senator John McCain (r-AZ) has already pledged to accept this fundraising pledge. If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election.“ Or maybe he won’t do that. (Hat tip to politico.com for finding the quote.)

America would be better off if it adopted the Virginia campaign-finance model: Collect as much as you want from whomever you want, but tell everyone so they can criticize you all they want.