Sunlight Foundation

Barak Obama's decision to refuse public financing for his presidential campaign has been seen as a sign of shrewd political pragmatism and also as an act of utter hypocrisy. But everyone seems to agree on his reasoning: The Internet made him do it. Taking public financing would limit Obama's ability to use the Internet for fund-raising, which he is very, very good at. Even now, his close-to-$300 million war chest is hefty enough to make even the richest of red-state Republicans green with envy. To be an effective president, however, Obama will have to do more with the Internet than just use it to raise money. He'll need to govern with it.