Campaign-Promises.com

Popularity: 23% [?]

Popularity: 15% [?]

By U.S. Budget Watch

September 2008

The candidate’s policies are broken into four categories: tax, health care, energy, and other spending/savings. To show the effect when programs are fully in place, estimates of budget effects are for 2013. Policies that would enlarge the deficit (or reduce the surplus) are shown as negative numbers, and those that would reduce the deficit (or increase the surplus) are shown as positive numbers.

Tax Policy

Extend Some of the 2001 and 2003 Tax Cuts: -$294 billion. Senator Obama supports renewing and making all of the major tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 permanent for families making less than $250,000, which will otherwise expire at the end of 2010. The cuts include the four lowest marginal income tax rates, the expanded child tax credit, reduced marriage penalties, and various other provisions. In developing its proposals, the Obama campaign assumed for the purposes of its baseline that the rest of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts would be renewed and then proposed reversing several of the cuts in order to pay for other proposals. This estimate is the cost of making all of the tax cuts permanent.

Increase Income Taxes on Higher Earners: +$48 billion. To pay for his health care plan, Senator Obama would allow the top two tax brackets of the individual income tax — currently 33% and 35% — to return to their pre-2001 levels of 36% and 39.6%, respectively. He also would allow Pease and PEP rules to be reinstated for those making over $250,000 a year, which would phase out certain tax benefits for these earners.

Raise Capital Gains and Dividends Taxes on Higher Earners: +$28 billion. Senator Obama would maintain the current capital gains rates and dividends rate of 0 and 15% on capital gains for families making $250,000 or less and create a new higher 20% bracket for those making more than $250,000.

Reinstate a Smaller Estate Tax: +$44 billion. Under current law, the estate tax will disappear completely in 2010 and reemerge in 2011 for all estates worth over $1 million with a top rate of 55%. Senator Obama would instead freeze the estate tax at its 2009 levels. This would create a permanent estate tax with a top rate of 45% and a $3.5 million exemption ($7 million per family).

Patch the Alternative Minimum Tax: -$106 billion. Senator Obama has not specified a plan to address the Alternative Minimum Tax, although he has supported efforts to fix the AMT in a “fiscally responsible manner” in the past. We assume that he would support continuing the current policy of providing annual patches to prevent middle class taxpayers from having to pay this tax.

Make the Research and Experimentation Tax Credit Permanent: -$10 billion. The Research and Experimentation Tax Credit (commonly referred to as the R&E or R&D credit), which provided a 20% tax credit for qualified research expenses, expired on December 31, 2007. Senator Obama would renew the credit and make it permanent.

Create a Universal Refundable Mortgage Credit: -$13 billion. Senator Obama would create a universal mortgage credit equal to 10% of interest payments for homeowners who do not itemize and therefore can’t take advantage of the current mortgage interest tax deduction. We assume the credit would be capped at $800 a year.

Create a “Making Work Pay” Tax Credit: -$72 billion. Senator Obama supports providing workers with a refundable tax credit equal to their share of the Social Security payroll tax (6.2% of payroll) on their first $8,100 of earnings. The credit would offer a maximum benefit of $500 per worker ($1,000 per family), would be indexed for inflation, and would be phased out for singles starting at $75,000 and for married couples starting at $150,000.

Eliminate Income Taxes for Many Seniors: -$7 billion. Senator Obama would exempt senior citizens making less than $50,000 from paying income taxes. The policy would be phased out above $50,000.

Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit: -$5 billion. Senator Obama supports increasing the number of individuals eligible for the EITC, as well as increasing the size of EITC benefits. He would change the rules so more working parents could receive the credit, increase benefits for parents who fulfill their child support obligations, increase benefits for families with three or more children, and reduce the EITC marriage penalty by increasing the phase-out threshold for joint filers.

Modify the Saver’s Credit and Implement Auto-Saving: -$21 billion. Senator Obama would make the Saver’s Credit refundable and increase it to cover 50% of qualified savings up to $500 for individuals ($1,000 for families making less than $75,000). The credit would be automatically deposited in an individual’s savings account. Senator Obama would also require that employers automatically enroll workers in company pension plans or IRAs, although employees could choose not to participate.

Create a New College Tax Credit: -$13 billion. Senator Obama would create a new “American Opportunity Tax Credit” and would integrate the HOPE and Lifetime Learning Credits so that individuals could not claim both credits simultaneously. The new credit would be refundable and offer a maximum benefit of $4,000. The American Opportunity Tax Credit would be contingent upon students completing 100 hours of community service.

Expand the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit: -$3 billion. Senator Obama would make the CDCTC refundable and increase it to cover up to 50% of the first $3,000 of child or dependent care expenses ($6,000 for multiple children) rather than up to 35% as under current law. According to the Tax Policy Center, he would also double the threshold for qualifying for the maximum credit from $15,000 a year to $30,000 a year.

Tax Carried Interest as Earned Income: +$2 billion. Senator Obama would tax the income earned by partners for performing investment management services at normal income tax rates, instead of the current practice of taxing them at the long-term capital gains rate (typically 15%).

Close Tax Loopholes and Shelters: +$75 billion. Senator Obama would seek to reduce tax shelter abuses, close the tax gap between taxes owed and taxes paid, and eliminate many corporate loopholes and tax breaks for certain industries or special interests. In particular, he would eliminate tax breaks for gas and oil companies; close the so-called CEO pay loophole that allows companies to avoid taxation on stock options offered to highly paid executives; require better capital gains reporting; and go after income being sheltered overseas by putting pressure on tax haven countries and companies involved in tax sheltering, while altering certain multinational tax deductions. Additionally, the campaign has said that an Obama administration would look for other sources of new revenue.

Cut Corporate Taxes: -$13 billion. Senator Obama would use some of the revenue raised from closing corporate tax loopholes and increasing the capital gains rate to cut corporate taxes. Specifically, Senator Obama would eliminate capital gains taxation on investment in small and start-up firms. Additionally, he would lower corporate income tax rates for businesses that start or expand operations within the United States.

Increase the Future Payroll Tax on High Earners: 0. To bring additional revenue into the Social Security system, Senator Obama supports creating a new tax on workers earning more than $250,000 a year. This tax would take effect in 2018 or later with a rate of between 2% and 4% of payroll (split between employer and employee). It would supplement the current 12.4% Social Security payroll tax that is levied on the first $102,000 in wages.

Total Budget Effect of Tax Policies in 2013: -$360 billion.

Health Care Policy

Expand Health Care Coverage: -$65 billion (net of savings). Senator Obama’s health care plan would require large employers to offer insurance or to pay a tax and would separately mandate that all children be insured. Individuals would have the option of keeping their employer coverage, purchasing insurance from a national health insurance exchange, or opting into a public plan similar to Medicare. Medicaid and SCHIP would be expanded while individuals who did not qualify for these programs would receive an income-related federal subsidy to purchase insurance. Additionally, small businesses would receive tax credits to provide health insurance to their employees.

Reduce Overall Health Care Costs: $0 (savings included in costs). Senator Obama has proposed a number of measures to slow the growth of health care costs, including health care information technology, research on the comparative effectiveness of treatments, more transparency within the health care system, and the use of more coordinated care and disease management. He also supports a performance-based payment system, reforming medical malpractice insurance, and reforming Medicare including by eliminating subsidies to private Medicare Advantage plans. By expanding health insurance coverage, the campaign says they will be able to cut disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments which currently go to hospitals that treat large numbers of uninsured individuals. All savings are included in the estimate of the coverage program.

Close the “Doughnut Hole” in Medicare Part D: -$43 billion. Under the standard Medicare prescription drug program, the government covers 75% of the cost of prescription drugs up to $2,510, does not cover any costs until total prescription drug spending reaches $5,726, and then covers 95% of costs. Senator Obama would close this coverage gap as part of a spending-neutral reform of Medicare (see below). If they were unable to raise the necessary savings, the Obama campaign has said they would only partially close the doughnut hole to ensure spending-neutrality.

Reduce Medicare Costs: +$43 billion. To finance the closing of the doughnut hole, Senator Obama would legalize the reimportation of certain prescription drugs and allow the federal government to negotiate Medicare Part D drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies. He would also ban drug companies from paying generic producers to refrain from entering drug markets, while increasing the use of generics in public programs. The campaign has said they would undertake additional measures as necessary to fully pay for any expansions to Medicare Part D.

Total Budget Effect of Health Care Policies in 2013: -$65 billion.

Energy Policy

Implement a Cap-and-Trade System: +$100 billion. Senator Obama supports the creation of a cap-and-trade system to limit greenhouse gas emissions. All companies that emit greenhouse gases would be required to obtain permits auctioned by the government. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the permits could be worth between $50 billion and $300 billion annually by 2020. We assume $100 billion in revenues. Under the Obama plan, all revenues would be spent on energy-related initiatives or on rebates to individuals.

Provide Tax Rebates and Transition Assistance: -$85 billion. The majority of revenue raised under Senator Obama’s cap-and-trade system would be used for tax rebates and other transition relief initiatives designed to assuage the impact of higher energy prices on individual communities and consumers.

Invest in Green Technology: -$15 billion. Senator Obama would invest $150 billion over 10 years in the development and commercialization of clean energy technology. This money would be used on programs to double clean energy research, extend the production tax credit for five years and create a clean tech venture capital fund that would pair with existing investment funds to encourage the creation and development of clean energy solutions and bolster financial support for environmental innovation.

Total Budget Effect of Energy Policies in 2013: $0.

Other Spending/Savings

Increase Pre-K – 12 Education Spending: -$18 billion. Senator Obama supports a number of policy proposals related to education. They include investing $10 billion per year in developmental programs for children under the age of five, reforming No Child Left Behind, helping future teachers finance their education, and offering financial incentives to teachers who spend time mentoring students.

Create Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank: -$6 billion. Senator Obama has called for the creation of a national infrastructure reinvestment bank that would invest $60 billion over 10 years in highways, technology, and other infrastructure projects. Funds would go primarily to projects related to homeland security, improving the environment, and economic growth.

Increase Spending on Basic Research: -$15 billion. Senator Obama has proposed to increase funding for basic research in physical and life sciences, mathematics, and engineering at a rate that would double basic research budgets over the next decade. He would also invest $50 billion over five years in information technology.

Expand Support for Higher Education: -$9 billion. Senator Obama supports creating a Community College Partnership Program, increasing funds for college readiness programs and expanding Pell Grants. Senator Obama would increase the maximum size of the Pell Grant for low-income students by ensuring the grant keeps pace with inflation.

Reduce Erroneous Payments and Use Purchasing Cards: +$6 billion. Senator Obama would reduce the number of improper payments made by the federal government in programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credit, and Social Security. He would also expand the use of purchasing cards to standardize government purchasing while increasing the government’s negotiating power.

Reform Government Spending: +$17 billion. In order to finance his education plan, Senator Obama would reduce the practice of earmarking, which allows members of Congress to direct funds to a specific (and often local) project during the legislative process. Additionally, he would reform federal contracting procedures, reduce federal energy consumption, and would auction off surplus federal property.

Eliminate the Federal Education Loan Program: +$3 billion. Senator Obama would eliminate current subsidies and guarantees to private banks and lenders who offer student loans and increase funding to the current direct loan program. The savings would be used to fund his college tax credit.

Double Foreign Aid: -$25 billion. To reach the Millennium Development Goal of cutting extreme worldwide poverty in half by 2015, Senator Obama has proposed doubling the current U.S. foreign aid budget from $25 billion a year to $50 billion a year.

Increase the Size of the Military: -$20 billion. Senator Obama has proposed increasing the size of the Army and Marine Corps. More specifically, he has declared his support for the current policy of adding 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 Marines. He would also strengthen the National Guard and Military Reserves, build up special operations forces capacity, and invest in military infrastructure.

Initiate a Phased Withdraw from Iraq: +$55 billion. Senator Obama has said that he would begin bringing troops home immediately with the ultimate goal of having all combat troops out of Iraq within 16 months of his taking office. He has also said that he would keep some noncombatant troops in and near Iraq to protect U.S. embassies and diplomats, while carrying out targeted strikes on al-Qaeda. We assume that Obama would reduce the number of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to 30,000 by 2010.

Implement Unspecified Cuts to Slow Spending: +$50 billion. The campaign has said an Obama administration would reduce wasteful spending and eliminate obsolete programs in all areas of the budget, while directing agencies to identify wasteful and inefficient programs for a total of $50 billion in savings. Although the campaign has not announced many specifics, it has stated that Obama would achieve the savings by identifying redundant and lower-priority programs and slowing their growth.

Total Budget Effect of Other Spending/Savings Policies in 2013: +$ 38 billion.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Obama’s Blueprint for Change in PDF form.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Obama: To Chairman Dean and my great friend Dick Durbin; and to all my fellow citizens of this great nation;

With profound gratitude and great humility, I accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States.

Let me express my thanks to the historic slate of candidates who accompanied me on this journey, and especially the one who traveled the farthest – a champion for working Americans and an inspiration to my daughters and to yours — Hillary Rodham Clinton.¬† To President Clinton, who last night made the case for change as only he can make it; to Ted Kennedy, who embodies the spirit of service; and to the next Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, I thank you. I am grateful to finish this journey with one of the finest statesmen of our time, a man at ease with everyone from world leaders to the conductors on the Amtrak train he still takes home every night.

To the love of my life, our next First Lady, Michelle Obama, and to Sasha and Malia – I love you so much, and I’m so proud of all of you.

Four years ago, I stood before you and told you my story – of the briefu nion between a young man from Kenya and a young woman from Kansas who weren’t well-off or well-known, but shared a belief that in America, their son could achieve whatever he put his mind to.

It is that promise that has always set this country apart – that through hard work and sacrifice, each of us can pursue our individual dreams but still come together as one American family, to ensure that the next generation can pursue their dreams as well.

That’s why I stand here tonight.¬† Because for two hundred and thirty two years, at each moment when that promise was in jeopardy, ordinary men and women – students and soldiers, farmers and teachers, nurses and janitors — found the courage to keep it alive.

We meet at one of those defining moments – a moment when our nation is at war, our economy is in turmoil, and the American promise has been threatened once more.

Tonight, more Americans are out of work and more are working harder for less.¬† More of you have lost your homes and even more are watching your home values plummet.¬† More of you have cars you can’t afford to drive, credit card bills you can’t afford to pay, and tuition that’s beyond your reach.

These challenges are not all of government’s making.¬† But the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush.

America, we are better than these last eight years.  We are a better country than this.

This country is more decent than one where a woman in Ohio, on the brink of retirement, finds herself one illness away from disaster after a lifetime of hard work.

This country is more generous than one where a man in Indiana has to pack up the equipment he’s worked on for twenty years and watch it shipped off to China, and then chokes up as he explains how he felt like a failure when he went home to tell his family the news.

We are more compassionate than a government that lets veterans sleep on our streets and families slide into poverty; that sits on its hands while a major American city drowns before our eyes.

Tonight, I say to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans and Independents across this great land – enough!¬† This moment – this election – is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive.¬† Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third.¬† And we are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight.¬† On November 4th, we must stand up and say: “Eight is enough.”

Now let there be no doubt.¬† The Republican nominee, John McCain, has worn the uniform of our country with bravery and distinction, and for that we owe him our gratitude and respect.¬† And next week, we’ll also hear about those occasions when he’s broken with his party as evidence that he can deliver the change that we need.

But the record’s clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time.¬† Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than ninety percent of the time?¬† I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to take a ten percent chance on change.

The truth is, on issue after issue that would make a difference in your lives – on health care and education and the economy – Senator McCain has been anything but independent.¬† He said that our economy has made “great progress” under this President.¬† He said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong.¬† And when one of his chief advisors – the man who wrote his economic plan – was talking about the anxiety Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a “mental recession,” and that we’ve become, and I quote, “a nation of whiners.”

A nation of whiners?  Tell that to the proud auto workers at a Michigan plant who, after they found out it was closing, kept showing up every day and working as hard as ever, because they knew there were people who counted on the brakes that they made.  Tell that to the military families who shoulder their burdens silently as they watch their loved ones leave for their third or fourth or fifth tour of duty.  These are not whiners.  They work hard and give back and keep going without complaint.  These are the Americans that I know.

Now, I don’t believe that Senator McCain doesn’t care what’s going on in the lives of Americans.¬† I just think he doesn’t know.¬† Why else would he define middle-class as someone making under five million dollars a year?¬† How else could he propose hundreds of billions in tax breaks for big corporations and oil companies but not one penny of tax relief to more than one hundred million Americans?¬† How else could he offer a health care plan that would actually tax people’s benefits, or an education plan that would do nothing to help families pay for college, or a plan that would privatize Social Security and gamble your retirement?

It’s not because John McCain doesn’t care.¬† It’s because John McCain doesn’t get it.

For over two decades, he’s subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy – give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else.¬† In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is – you’re on your own.¬† Out of work?¬† Tough luck.¬† No health care?¬† The market will fix it.¬† Born into poverty?¬† Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps – even if you don’t have boots.¬† You’re on your own.

Well it’s time for them to own their failure.¬† It’s time for us to change America.

You see, we Democrats have a very different measure of what constitutes progress in this country.

We measure progress by how many people can find a job that pays the mortgage; whether you can put a little extra money away at the end of each month so you can someday watch your child receive her college diploma.  We measure progress in the 23 million new jobs that were created when Bill Clinton was President Рwhen the average American family saw its income go up $7,500 instead of down $2,000 like it has under George Bush.

We measure the strength of our economy not by the number of billionaires we have or the profits of the Fortune 500, but by whether someone with a good idea can take a risk and start a new business, or whether the waitress who lives on tips can take a day off to look after a sick kid without losing her job – an economy that honors the dignity of work.

The fundamentals we use to measure economic strength are whether we are living up to that fundamental promise that has made this country great – a promise that is the only reason I am standing here tonight.

Because in the faces of those young veterans who come back from Iraq and Afghanistan, I see my grandfather, who signed up after Pearl Harbor, marched in Patton’s Army, and was rewarded by a grateful nation with the chance to go to college on the GI Bill.

In the face of that young student who sleeps just three hours before working the night shift, I think about my mom, who raised my sister and me on her own while she worked and earned her degree; who once turned to food stamps but was still able to send us to the best schools in the country with the help of student loans and scholarships.

When I listen to another worker tell me that his factory has shut down, I remember all those men and women on the South Side of Chicago who I stood by and fought for two decades ago after the local steel plant closed.

And when I hear a woman talk about the difficulties of starting her own business, I think about my grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to middle-management, despite years of being passed over for promotions because she was a woman.¬† She’s the one who taught me about hard work.¬† She’s the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life.¬† She poured everything she had into me.¬† And although she can no longer travel, I know that she’s watching tonight, and that tonight is her night as well.

I don’t know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine.¬† These are my heroes.¬† Theirs are the stories that shaped me.¬† And it is on their behalf that I intend to win this election and keep our promise alive as President of the United States.

What is that promise?

It’s a promise that says each of us has the freedom to make of our own lives what we will, but that we also have the obligation to treat each other with dignity and respect.

It’s a promise that says the market should reward drive and innovation and generate growth, but that businesses should live up to their responsibilities to create American jobs, look out for American workers, and play by the rules of the road.

Ours is a promise that says government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves – protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools and new roads and new science and technology.

Our government should work for us, not against us.¬† It should help us, not hurt us.¬† It should ensure opportunity not just for those with the most money and influence, but for every American who’s willing to work.

That’s the promise of America – the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation; the fundamental belief that I am my brother’s keeper; I am my sister’s keeper.

That’s the promise we need to keep.¬† That’s the change we need right now.¬† So let me spell out exactly what that change would mean if I am President.

Change means a tax code that doesn’t reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it.

Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America.

I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow.

I will cut taxes Рcut taxes Рfor 95% of all working families.  Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class.

And for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as President: in ten years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.

Washington’s been talking about our oil addiction for the last thirty years, and John McCain has been there for twenty-six of them.¬† In that time, he’s said no to higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars, no to investments in renewable energy, no to renewable fuels.¬† And today, we import triple the amount of oil as the day that Senator McCain took office.

Now is the time to end this addiction, and to understand that drilling is a stop-gap measure, not a long-term solution.  Not even close.

As President, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power.¬† I’ll help our auto companies re-tool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America.¬† I’ll make it easier for the American people to afford these new cars.¬† And I’ll invest 150 billion dollars over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy – wind power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels; an investment that will lead to new industries and five million new jobs that pay well and can’t ever be outsourced.

America, now is not the time for small plans.

Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world-class education, because it will take nothing less to compete in the global economy.¬† Michelle and I are only here tonight because we were given a chance at an education.¬† And I will not settle for an America where some kids don’t have that chance.¬† I’ll invest in early childhood education.¬† I’ll recruit an army of new teachers, and pay them higher salaries and give them more support.¬† And in exchange, I’ll ask for higher standards and more accountability.¬† And we will keep our promise to every young American – if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford a college education.

Now is the time to finally keep the promise of affordable, accessible health care for every single American.¬† If you have health care, my plan will lower your premiums.¬† If you don’t, you’ll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves.¬† And as someone who watched my mother argue with insurance companies while she lay in bed dying of cancer, I will make certain those companies stop discriminating against those who are sick and need care the most.

Now is the time to help families with paid sick days and better family leave, because nobody in America should have to choose between keeping their jobs and caring for a sick child or ailing parent.

Now is the time to change our bankruptcy laws, so that your pensions are protected ahead of CEO bonuses; and the time to protect Social Security for future generations.

And now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day’s work, because I want my daughters to have exactly the same opportunities as your sons.

Now, many of these plans will cost money, which is why I’ve laid out how I’ll pay for every dime – by closing corporate loopholes and tax havens that don’t help America grow.¬† But I will also go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less – because we cannot meet twenty-first century challenges with a twentieth century bureaucracy.

And Democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling America’s promise will require more than just money.¬† It will require a renewed sense of responsibility from each of us to recover what John F. Kennedy called our “intellectual and moral strength.”¬† Yes, government must lead on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair.¬† But we must also admit that programs alone can’t replace parents; that government can’t turn off the television and make a child do her homework; that fathers must take more responsibility for providing the love and guidance their children need.

Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility – that’s the essence of America’s promise.

And just as we keep our promise to the next generation here at home, so must we keep America’s promise abroad.¬†¬† If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next Commander-in-Chief, that’s a debate I’m ready to have.

For while Senator McCain was turning his sights to Iraq just days after 9/11, I stood up and opposed this war, knowing that it would distract us from the real threats we face.¬† When John McCain said we could just “muddle through” in Afghanistan, I argued for more resources and more troops to finish the fight against the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, and made clear that we must take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights.¬† John McCain likes to say that he’ll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell – but he won’t even go to the cave where he lives.

And today, as my call for a time frame to remove our troops from Iraq has been echoed by the Iraqi government and even the Bush Administration, even after we learned that Iraq has a $79 billion surplus while we’re wallowing in deficits, John McCain stands alone in his stubborn refusal to end a misguided war.

That’s not the judgment we need.¬† That won’t keep America safe.¬† We need a President who can face the threats of the future, not keep grasping at the ideas of the past.

You don’t defeat a terrorist network that operates in eighty countries by occupying Iraq.¬† You don’t protect Israel and deter Iran just by talking tough in Washington.¬† You can’t truly stand up for Georgia when you’ve strained our oldest alliances.¬† If John McCain wants to follow George Bush with more tough talk and bad strategy, that is his choice – but it is not the change we need.

We are the party of Roosevelt.¬† We are the party of Kennedy.¬† So don’t tell me that Democrats won’t defend this country.¬† Don’t tell me that Democrats won’t keep us safe.¬† The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans — Democrats and Republicans – have built, and we are here to restore that legacy.

As Commander-in-Chief, I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm’s way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home.

I will end this war in Iraq responsibly, and finish the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.  I will rebuild our military to meet future conflicts.  But I will also renew the tough, direct diplomacy that can prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and curb Russian aggression.  I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century: terrorism and nuclear proliferation; poverty and genocide; climate change and disease.  And I will restore our moral standing, so that America is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future.

These are the policies I will pursue.  And in the weeks ahead, I look forward to debating them with John McCain.

But what I will not do is suggest that the Senator takes his positions for political purposes.¬† Because one of the things that we have to change in our politics is the idea that people cannot disagree without challenging each other’s character and patriotism.

The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party.  I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain.  The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag.  They have not served a Red America or a Blue America Рthey have served the United States of America.

So I’ve got news for you, John McCain.¬† We all put our country first.

America, our work will not be easy.¬† The challenges we face require tough choices, and Democrats as well as Republicans will need to cast off the worn-out ideas and politics of the past.¬† For part of what has been lost these past eight years can’t just be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits.¬† What has also been lost is our sense of common purpose – our sense of higher purpose.¬† And that’s what we have to restore.

We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country.¬† The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don’t tell me we can’t uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals.¬† I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination.¬† Passions fly on immigration, but I don’t know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers.¬† This too is part of America’s promise – the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort.

I know there are those who dismiss such beliefs as happy talk.¬† They claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer and more honest in our public life is just a Trojan Horse for higher taxes and the abandonment of traditional values.¬† And that’s to be expected. Because if you don’t have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters.¬† If you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.

You make a big election about small things.

And you know what – it’s worked before.¬† Because it feeds into the cynicism we all have about government.¬† When Washington doesn’t work, all its promises seem empty.¬† If your hopes have been dashed again and again, then it’s best to stop hoping, and settle for what you already know.

I get it.¬† I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office.¬† I don’t fit the typical pedigree, and I haven’t spent my career in the halls of Washington.

But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring.¬† What the nay-sayers don’t understand is that this election has never been about me.¬† It’s been about you.

For eighteen long months, you have stood up, one by one, and said enough to the politics of the past.¬† You understand that in this election, the greatest risk we can take is to try the same old politics with the same old players and expect a different result.¬† You have shown what history teaches us – that at defining moments like this one, the change we need doesn’t come from Washington.¬† Change comes to Washington.¬† Change happens because the American people demand it – because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time.

America, this is one of those moments.

I believe that as hard as it will be, the change we need is coming.¬† Because I’ve seen it.¬† Because I’ve lived it.¬† I’ve seen it in Illinois, when we provided health care to more children and moved more families from welfare to work.¬† I’ve seen it in Washington, when we worked across party lines to open up government and hold lobbyists more accountable, to give better care for our veterans and keep nuclear weapons out of terrorist hands.

And I’ve seen it in this campaign.¬† In the young people who voted for the first time, and in those who got involved again after a very long time.¬† In the Republicans who never thought they’d pick up a Democratic ballot, but did.¬† I’ve seen it in the workers who would rather cut their hours back a day than see their friends lose their jobs, in the soldiers who re-enlist after losing a limb, in the good neighbors who take a stranger in when a hurricane strikes and the floodwaters rise.

This country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but that’s not what makes us rich.¬† We have the most powerful military on Earth, but that’s not what makes us strong.¬† Our universities and our culture are the envy of the world, but that’s not what keeps the world coming to our shores.

Instead, it is that American spirit – that American promise – that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend.

That promise is our greatest inheritance.¬† It’s a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night, and a promise that you make to yours – a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west; a promise that led workers to picket lines, and women to reach for the ballot.

And it is that promise that forty five years ago today, brought Americans from every corner of this land to stand together on a Mall in Washington, before Lincoln’s Memorial, and hear a young preacher from Georgia speak of his dream.

The men and women who gathered there could’ve heard many things.¬† They could’ve heard words of anger and discord.¬† They could’ve been told to succumb to the fear and frustration of so many dreams deferred.

But what the people heard instead Рpeople of every creed and color, from every walk of life Рis that in America, our destiny is inextricably linked.  That together, our dreams can be one.

“We cannot walk alone,” the preacher cried.¬† “And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.¬† We cannot turn back.”

America, we cannot turn back.  Not with so much work to be done.  Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for.  Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save.  Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend.  America, we cannot turn back.  We cannot walk alone.  At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future.  Let us keep that promise Рthat American promise Рand in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.

Thank you, God Bless you, and God Bless the United States of America.

Popularity: 19% [?]

By Holly Ramer, Associated Press Writer | June 22, 2007

MANCHESTER, N.H. –Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Friday he will clean up Washington on his first day in office with a government reform package aimed at reducing the growing power of lobbyists.

“It’s time to renew a people’s politics in this country — to ensure that the hopes and concerns of average Americans speak louder in Washington than the hallway whispers of high-priced lobbyists,” he said.

The Illinois senator said he will ban political appointees who leave their jobs during his administration from lobbying the executive branch for the remainder of his time in office. Those who join his administration will not be able to work on regulations or contracts directly related to their former employers for two years.

“When I am president, I will make it absolutely clear that working in an Obama administration is not about serving your former employer, your future employer or your bank account — it’s about serving your country, and that’s what comes first,” he said at New Hampshire Community Technical College.

Under the current administration, Washington lobbyists have turned government “into a game only they can afford to play,” Obama said. “A game played on a field that’s no longer level, but rigged to always favor their own narrow agendas.”

“In our democracy, the price of access and influence should be nothing more than your voice and your vote,” he said. “That should be enough for health care reform. That should be enough for a real energy policy.”

Obama’s plan also calls for ending the abuse of no-bid contracts, restoring objectivity to the executive branch and increasing public access to information.

He promised to post any non-emergency bill on the Internet for five days before signing it to give the public a chance to review and comment. Videos of agency meetings also would be available online, and communications about regulatory policy-making between White House staff and people outside government would be made public.

The themes are similar to policy proposals Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton outlined in April, when she assailed Washington’s “culture of cronyism” and vowed to improve government accountability.

And just as Clinton did in a recent New Hampshire speech, Obama quoted President Teddy Roosevelt, who said, “The welfare of each of us is dependent fundamentally upon the welfare of all of us.”

He said American again needs the kind of leadership Roosevelt provided when he broke up the trusts and monopolies that ruled during the Gilded Age.

“We need a president who sees government not as a tool to enrich well-connected friends and high-priced lobbyists, but as the defender of fairness and opportunity for every American,” he said.

Obama acknowledged that such promises are common but said he has the experience and will to follow through.

“It’s easy to be cynical — to believe that change isn’t possible; that the odds are too great; that this year is bound to be no different from the last. But I also know what I’ve seen and what I’ve done,” he said. “I know that for me, reform isn’t just the rhetoric of a campaign; it’s been a cause of my career.”

Popularity: 14% [?]