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Friday, March 29, 2024

McCain vs. Obama

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Next Tuesday, Nov. 4, Americans across the country will make their voices heard in what many have called a very historic and important presidential election.

On Election Day, citizens are expected to turn out in record numbers to choose either Americaā€™s first African-American president, or its first woman vice president.

With all the excitement and commercial sound bytes coming from the campaign, itā€™s easy for some to get caught up in the personalities of the candidates and forget about the issues that have made this election so critical.

Understanding the differences in proposals by Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain are essential in order to make an informed decision on Election Day. Here is a quick summary on where the two candidates stand on some of the most pressing and controversial issues.

Sen. Barack Obama

Economy ā€” ā€œWe should set up an independent board selected by Democrats and Republicans to provide oversight and accountability for how and where the money is going to be spent at every step of the way. If American taxpayers are financing this solution, they should be treated like investors and that means Wall Street and Washington should give every penny of taxpayersā€™ money back once this economy recovers. Finally, the American people should not be spending one dime to reward the same Wall Street CEOs whose greed and irresponsibility got us into this mess. We canā€™t allow this plan to become a welfare program for Wall Street executives.ā€

Taxes ā€” ā€œI want to provide a tax cut for 95 percent of Americans. If you make less than a quarter million dollars a year, you will not see a single dime of your taxes go up. If you make $200,000 a year or less, your taxes will go down. Only a few percent of small business make more than $250,00 a year so the vast majority of small businesses would get a tax cut under my plan. And we provide a 50 percent tax credit so that they can buy health insurance for their workers.ā€

War in Iraq ā€” ā€œThis was the wrong thing to do. Everybody anticipated correctly U.S. forces would overwhelm Saddam Hussein on the front end, but my concern wasnā€™t the effectiveness of the U.S. military, but it was the aftermath once we had deposed Saddam Hussein.

ā€œThat is now clear, after thousands of American lives were lost and over half a trillion dollars spent. Weā€™ve got to be as responsible and careful getting out as we were careless getting in, but we need to get our troops out of the combat roles that theyā€™ve been placed in. They should not be refereeing a civil war in Iraq. I will remove our troops from Iraq immediately. I will remove one or two brigades a month and all of our troops within 16 months.ā€

General foreign policy ā€” Obama was elected to the Senate in 2005 and serves on the Foreign Relations Committee. He has pledged to take steps to end the war in Iraq soon after taking office, to negotiate with the leadership of U.S. adversaries like Iran and Cuba, and to revamp the U.S. approach to free trade to bolster labor and environmental protections. Obama has attracted as advisers a number of top foreign policy experts who served under President Bill Clinton. Those advisers tend to be more independent from party orthodoxy on foreign policy issues, analysts say.

If Obama wins the election, his foreign policy and economic agendas will surely break with the legacies of the Bush administration, experts say, according to Newsweek magazine.

Education ā€” ā€œNo one needs to tell me about the importance of an education because I wouldnā€™t be where I am today without it. We have to make sure that weā€™re doing everything we can to close the achievement gap. We have to have a universal program of early childhood education. Not just Pre-k, but starting with parents who are at risk. Second thing is making sure weā€™re recruiting a new generation of teachers who are going into those classrooms, especially those who are underperforming in urban cities and rural areas. Thatā€™s going to require us paying teachers more, provide them with more professional development. We need to set up a growth standard to measure students and schools. The last component is young people have to be able to afford to go to college and pursue postgraduate work if theyā€™re so inclined. We need to make colleges affordable for all young people. Iā€™d like to strip out some of the subsidies going to banks and financial institutions and make sure weā€™re putting money into grants that donā€™t have to be repaid, make sure young people are benefiting from low interest rates if they do have to take out a loan, and loan forgiveness programs for those who want to become nurses or policemen, that each year they perform services, they knock down some of that debt.

Health care ā€” ā€œIf you already have health care, then weā€™re going to work to lower your premiums, your expenditures by up to $2,500 each year by investing in electronic health records and invest in chronic care management prevention. If you donā€™t have health insurance, then youā€™re going to be able to buy into a similar health care plan as the one that I have as a member of Congress. If you canā€™t afford it, weā€™ll subsidize you so that nobody in America should be wanting for health care if they are willing to go through these programs.ā€

Crime ā€” Sen. Obama cosponsored the Combat Meth Act, which provides more money for fighting methamphetamine (meth), tightens controls on the sale of meth ingredients, and provides assistance to the children of meth abusers.

Obama has been a strong supporter of efforts to increase funding and support for local law enforcement. He supported the reauthorization of the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program which provides local law enforcement funding for: hiring and training law enforcement officers; procuring equipment and support systems; paying officers to perform intelligence, anti-terror, or homeland security duties; and developing new technologies, including inter-operable communications, and forensic technology.

Obama cosponsored Druā€™s Law which creates a nationwide sex offender database and requires greater monitoring of sex offenders upon their release from prison.

In the Senate, Obama also cosponsored the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. The act provides important funding and assistance to help communities, non-profit organizations, and law enforcement combat domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The act establishes a sexual assault service program and provides grants for education programs to prevent domestic violence and encourage reporting of abuses. ā€” U.S. Senate

Immigration &mddash; ā€œWe do have to have genuine border security. We have to work with Mexico and theyā€™ve got to take some responsibility and provide jobs for their people and the borders. We have to work with employers so that in a nondiscriminatory way on enforcing rules on who can work and canā€™t. We have to make sure this system works so that just because your last name is Rodriguez youā€™re not being hired. We need to be honest and say letā€™s pull people out of the shadows, admit theyā€™ve broken the law so theyā€™d have to pay a fine. They should learn English because that would help them, but donā€™t cut education programs for them. Theyā€™re going to have to go to the back of the line. They canā€™t get citizenship for people whoā€™ve been waiting. And fix the backlogs.ā€

Abortion ā€” ā€œI trust women to make these decisions in conjunction with their doctors, their families and their clergy. The broader issue here is, do women have the right to make these profoundly difficult decisions and I trust them to do it. Thereā€™s a broader issue, though, can we move past the debates around where we disagree and can we start talking about the issues which we do agree on; reducing teen pregnancy, making it less likely for where women find themselves in the circumstances where they have to anguish over these decisions?ā€

Same sex marriage ā€” He opposes same-sex marriage, but also opposes a constitutional ban. Says he would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment. As stated on the Obama campaign Web site, he supports full civil unions that ā€œgive same-sex couples equal legal rights and privileges as married couples, including the right to assist their loved ones in times of emergency as well as equal health insurance, employment benefits, and property and adoption rights.ā€

He says the Employment Non-Discrimination Act should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity. He advocated legislation that sought to expand federal hate crimes law to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

According to CNN.com, Obama says the militaryā€™s ā€œDonā€™t ask, donā€™t tellā€ policy needs to be repealed.

Sen. John McCain

Economy ā€” Supports energy independence to reduce the need for foreign oil, and across-the-board tax cuts to stimulate the economy. McCainā€™s economic plan would involve measures to stabilize the mortgage industry so families can keep their homes and reducing wasteful spending in the federal government. He supports the federal bailout plan of financial institutions and recently stated that Americans are the innocent victims of ā€œWall Street Greed.ā€

Taxes ā€” McCain has pledged to not burden working Americans with any new taxes if elected, and has frequently criticized Obama for what he calls high tax proposals. He twice opposed Bushā€™s tax cuts, at first because he said they were tilted to the wealthiest and again because of the unknown costs of the Iraq war. Now he says those tax cuts, due to expire in 2010, should be permanent. He proposes cutting the corporate tax rate to 25 percent and promises a balanced budget in his first term.

Iraq ā€” He is opposed to ā€œirresponsibleā€ withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq without making sure that country is secure and not a satellite for terrorists first. He wants troops to come home, but with ā€œvictory and honor.ā€ He believes the surge of troops in Iraq has brought greater stability to the country and a reduction in U.S. casualties. He says the costs would be greater for the U.S. if its forces leave immediately.

General foreign policy ā€” McCain favors use of diplomacy from a position of strength, and is strongly opposed to the idea of opening talks with rogue governments in countries such as Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria without pre-conditions. He believes the U.S. should play a more active role in checking Russian aggression in Europe and preventing the possibility of a nuclear-armed Iran in the Middle East.

Education ā€” McCain favors parental choice of schools, including vouchers for charter and private schools when approved by local officials, and the right of parents to choose home schooling. He believes parents should be able to choose the kind of education their child receives, not bureaucrats or ā€œteachers unionsā€ who lock kids in ā€œfailing schools.ā€

Crime ā€” Throughout his career in the Senate, McCain has supported tighter sentencing laws to deter crime, community policing to develop partnerships between law-abiding citizens and police, and public/private partnerships to increase drug treatment programs and reduce the demand for drugs. He has supported expansion of the federal death penalty and limits on appeals.

Health care ā€” McCainā€™s plan includes a $2,500 refundable tax credit for individuals, and $5,000 for families to make health insurance more affordable. In gaining the tax credit, workers could not deduct the portion of their workplace health insurance paid by their employers. He is opposed to a federal universal health care system, and believes the competitive free market is the best to ensure lower prices and higher quality for citizens.

Immigration ā€” McCain sponsored a 2006 Senate bill that would have allowed illegal immigrants to stay in the U.S., work and apply to become legal residents after learning English, paying fines and back taxes and clearing a background check. Now says he would secure the border first. He supports construction of a border fence in areas with high traffic of illegal immigrants.

Abortion ā€” McCain opposes abortion rights and has voted for restrictions permissible under current law. During the third presidential debate McCain stated that he would consider appointing Supreme Court justices that would overturn the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision that legalized abortion.

Same sex marriage ā€” He believes that marriage should be between ā€œone man and one woman,ā€ but does not support a federal mandate on the issue. He believes states should have the right to decide whether or not they want to allow same-sex marriages.

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