http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2008/10/19/opinion/doc48fb0b96805f0257037580.prt
The New Haven Register (nhregister.com), Serving New Haven, CT
EDITORIAL: Barack Obama for president
A year ago, John McCain, the Republican candidate for president, would have had our vote. In terms of experience, political courage and willingness to work with political opponents, McCain's record towered above that of Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate.
Obama, 47, has been a senator less than four years. McCain, 72, was first elected to the Senate in 1986. McCain famously bucked his party and the president on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, global warming, Iraq policy and the torture of terrorism suspects. Obama has a nearly perfect party line voting record, one of the most liberal in the Senate.
Obama would throw out the secret ballot in union recognition elections and opposes free trade agreements that will increase American business and bolster U.S. allies.
McCain worked with Democrats to enact campaign finance reform, end a logjam on judicial nominees and on a failed immigration compromise. Obama skipped the work on the judicial nomination stalemate and helped undermine the immigration bill.
On top of his political record, McCain is an American war hero — his character tested and proved during the five years he was a prisoner during the Vietnam War after being shot down while serving as a Navy fighter pilot.
But this admirable man has transformed himself into a partisan Republican at a time when the public temper demands a change of political climate, and his unregulated market beliefs lay in shambles along with many of the world's financial systems.
There is too much truth to be ignored in the Democrats' charge that electing McCain would mean, in effect, a third term for the failed policies of the Bush administration.
McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate is confirmation of that fear. The governor of Alaska is utterly unqualified to be next in line as president of the United States. Her selection was a purely political choice, without regard to the national interest.
Palin's opposition to abortion, even in the case of rape or incest, is a reminder of the Republicans' willingness to use government to intrude on deeply personal choices when they controlled Congress. McCain shares her abortion stance.
Equally troubling is McCain's choice of a running mate who thinks creationism should be taught as an alternative to evolution, invokes God to justify political decisions and suggested banning books from her town's library.
On the campaign trail, Obama's measured performance wins praise compared with McCain's erratic actions, including the brief suspension of his campaign during the congressional debate of the $700 billion financial bailout legislation.
McCain now wants to make permanent the Bush tax cuts that he once opposed. Those cuts have largely favored the rich and helped fuel the federal budget deficit. Obama would shift the balance to put more of the tax burden on the rich, where it belongs. Under Obama's tax plan, a married couple with two children and a gross income of $1 million would pay $35,500 more in taxes. Under McCain's plan, they would pay $6,100 less, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis.
If a choice must be made, Obama's health care plan is preferable, too. He would build on the current system, in which most Americans get health coverage through their employer.
McCain would throw out that system, with individuals finding their own health care coverage and receiving a tax credit to help pay part of the cost. The McCain plan would mean many would have to pay more for coverage or settle for reduced benefits. Further, the McCain plan is more costly. Obama's health care plan would cost about $100 billion a year in its first years, McCain's $160 billion, according to independent estimates.
On Iraq, McCain deserves credit for arguing for the troop surge that has brought a fragile stability to the country. Obama's 16-month timetable for withdrawing combat troops is too rigid.
But, McCain's emphasis on American "victory" in Iraq is out of step with Iraq's transformation into a sovereign state that wants U.S. troops to leave as soon as possible.
Neither candidate has dealt seriously with how to save either Medicare or Social Security from insolvency. Indeed, fixing the two entitlement programs is not even among their top priorities.
Neither candidate has indicated how the government's spending of well over $1 trillion on financial bailout measures will affect their plans for new government spending.
If Obama met all his campaign spending promises, it would add $286 billion to $413 billion to the national deficit; McCain's spending would add $167 billion to $259 billion, according to the Committee for a Responsible Budget.
In their second debate, McCain said he would go forward with all his programs. Obama, at least, suggested a need for priorities.
Obama has proven a disciplined campaigner and a brilliantly effective orator. After eight years with a Republican in the White House, a fresh perspective is needed. Barack Obama should be the next president of the United States.
0 comments:
Post a Comment