REPORTER: Hi, Mr. President. You speak about the dysfunction in Washington, partly because people are trying to be reelected every so often. What about Citizens United, and overturning that, and getting some limits on campaign spending so that we bring some reality back to this situation?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, theres no doubt that among advanced democracies, we are unique in the length of our campaigns, the almost unlimited amounts of money that are now spent. And I think its bad for our democracy. (Applause.)
And I speak as somebody who has raised a lot of money. Im very good at it. Im proud of the fact that part of the reason I was really good at it is because we were the first sort of out of the gate to not the first, but we really refined using the Internet for small donations, and to be able to pool a lot of ordinary folks resources to amplify our message. But I also got checks from wealthy people, too. So its not that Im not good at it. I just dont think its a good way for our democracy to work.
I think, first of all, it makes life miserable on members of Congress, particularly those in competitive districts. There is no doubt that it has an impact on how legislation moves forward, or doesnt move forward in Congress. Its not straightforward, Im writing the check and heres my position. But theres a reason why special interests and lobbyists have undue influence in Washington, and a lot of it has to do with the fundraising that they do. And the degree to which its spent on TV and the nature of just the blitzkrieg you guys here in Ohio, you just feel it, right? Its just every election season, you just got to turn off the TV. Its depressing. And its all negative because we know the science has shown that people are more prone to believe the negative than the positive. And it just degrades our democracy, generally.
Now, heres the problem. Citizens United was a Supreme Court ruling based on the First Amendment, so it cant be overturned by statute. It could be overturned by a new Court, or it could be overturned by constitutional amendment. And those are extraordinarily challenging processes. So I think we have to think about what are other creative ways to reduce the influence of money, given that in the short term we not going to be able to overturn Citizens United.
And I think there are other ways for us to think creatively, and weve got to have a better debate about how we make this democracy and encourage participation how we make our democracy better and encourage more participation.
For example, the process of political gerrymandering I think is damaging the Congress. I dont think the insiders should draw the lines and decide who their voters are. (Applause.) And Democrats and Republicans do this, and its great for incumbents. But it means, over time, that people arent competing for the center because they know that if they win a Democratic primary or a Republican primary, theyve won. So they just it pushes parties away from compromise in the center.
I think that now, I dont think Ive ever said this publicly, but Im going to go ahead and say it now. We shouldnt be making it harder to vote. We should be making it easier to vote. (Applause.)
And what I havent said Ive said that publicly before. (Laughter.) So my Justice Department is going to be vigorous in terms of trying to enforce voting rights. I gave a speech down in Selma at the 50th anniversary that was incredibly moving for me and my daughters, and the notion that this day and age we would be deliberately trying to restrict the franchise makes no sense. And at the state and local levels, thats you can push back against that, and make sure that were expanding the franchise, not restricting it.
In Australia, and some other countries, theres mandatory voting. It would be transformative if everybody voted. That would counteract money more than anything. If everybody voted, then it would completely change the political map in this country, because the people who tend not to vote are young; theyre lower income; theyre skewed more heavily towards immigrant groups and minority groups; and theyre often the folks who are theyre scratching and climbing to get into the middle class. And theyre working hard, and theres a reason why some folks try to keep them away from the polls. We should want to get them into the polls. So that may end up being a better strategy in the short term.
Long term, I think it would be fun to have a constitutional amendment process about how our financial system works. (Applause.) But, realistically, given the requirements of that process that would be a long-term proposition.
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