Jacob Sullum: “On the day McCutcheon was argued … Obama worried that it would exacerbate a problem created by the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. FEC, which lifted restrictions on political speech by unions and corporations. … In short, Obama thinks Citizens United was ‘devastating’ … because it freed his opponents to criticize him and interfered with business as usual in Washington. Many Americans would see those as advantages. In any case, it’s clear that Obama views campaign finance regulation as a way of managing the political debate and keeping it from becoming too ‘extremist,’ a rationale the court has never endorsed and one that is totally at odds with the First Amendment’s command that Congress ‘shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech.’ … Even if a candidate is interested only in gaining and retaining power, he has to convince voters he is worthy of their trust. The ‘undue influence’ that worries Breyer, Obama, Sanders, McCain and Pelosi is ultimately based on the power of speech to persuade, a power Congress is forbidden to regulate.”