I'm not bothered in the least by Obama's decision. I expect he will take a short term hit for it, but it has no staying power as an issue.
He attempted to engage the McCain campaign to include voluntary limits on the political parties' funding in support of the respective campaigns as part of an agreement to accept public financing...and was rebuffed.
I understand why McCain and the RNC rebuffed Obama; the
RNC (and to a lesser extent, Republican Party) has a fund raising advantage and more cash on hand. On the other hand, the Democratic congressional funding organizations are kicking ass.
IMO, the greatest inherent problem with the current public financing system is that the candidates can simply encourage their supporters to contribute to the party instead of directly to the candidate's campaign (and make it appear in fund raising ads/letters that contributors are giving to the campaign).
So if McCain accepts the public financing, all of the big donors and PACs for McCain will now give their money to the RNC instead.
I do give Obama credit for prohibiting the Democratic party from accepting PAC money, even though there are probably loopholes here as well
The candidates can exert influence on the respective party fundraising. Obama chose to do so..McCain did not.
The issue of the independent 527 organizations (on both sides) is far more abusive to the system..there is no direct relationship with the campaigns (or at least, there is not supposed to be) and very little accountability for what can and cannot be said in a 527 ad.