People For the American Way today applauded President Obama for his support for amending the Constitution to repair the damage done by the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. FEC and related cases. In a post today on BarackObama.com, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina announced that the President supports action, including a constitutional amendment if necessary, to place reasonable limits on special interest money in elections.

Marge Baker, Executive Vice President at People For the American Way, issued the following statement.

“Citizens United opened the floodgates to a wave of corporate and special interest money in our elections. Since then, Americans from across the political spectrum have joined together to support amending the Constitution to reverse the damage done by the Supreme Court and limit corporate and special interest influence in our democracy. As Justice Stevens pointed out in his dissent, there are problems with our political system, but few people would argue that a shortage of money is one of them.

“Amending the Constitution is the only way to completely overturn the Court’s decision, and President Obama should be applauded for lending his support to the movement to restore democracy to the people. Americans of all parties and ideologies support amending the Constitution to overturn Citizens United and related cases.

“This is a movement moment. Americans are sick and tired of government that puts the interests of the wealthy above the needs of ordinary people. Momentum for a constitutional amendment is growing every day.”

Baker also pointed out that President Obama’s statement stands in stark contrast to recent moves by the GOP, which recently filed briefs in court arguing that corporations should be able to donate directly to political candidates —a move which would increase even further the apparent corruption of our government and undermine the public trust.

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