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SEE HIS PLANS HERE
BARACK OBAMA SAYS: TOP PRIORITIES: My top priority as president will be ending this war in Iraq, a war that should have never been authorized and never been waged. In doing so, I will work to keep our country safe from terrorists and to restore American credibility around the world. Providing universal health care to the 47 million Americans who currently do not have it will be another top priority of my administration, as will combating global warming and putting our country on the path toward energy independence. But all of the issues that I have focused on in this campaign -- whether it's creating a 21st century education system and fighting poverty or achieving comprehensive immigration reform and strengthening our economy -- are vitally important and must be prioritized by the next president. And all of these issues share one thing in common: in order to fully address them, we have to do more than change political parties. We have to fundamentally change our politics and transform the way business is done in Washington. IRAQ WAR: I opposed this war from the beginning, when it was unpopular to do so, in part because I believed it was a diversion from the real threat of al Qaeda and that giving this President the authority would lead to the open-ended occupation we find ourselves in today. Now our soldiers find themselves in the crossfire of a civil war and our military is stretched thin. I support beginning the withdrawal of our troops from Iraq immediately, and under the plan I introduced in January 2007, we would have begun withdrawing forces engaged in combat operations on May 1, 2007. A withdrawal of our troops is the best leverage we have to press the Iraqi political leaders to make the political compromises necessary to end their civil war. IRAQ WAR 2: What distinguishes my plan from nearly all the other candidates is that I was among the few with the good judgment to have opposed the war from the beginning. Now that we must correct the mistake of authorizing and waging this war, there are only bad options and worse options. Under my plan, we would begin withdrawing troops immediately. I would maintain a follow on force in and around Iraq to protect ongoing U.S. interests there, including counter-terrorism operations, training and force protection. Since success in stopping this civil war requires a political solution among Iraq's leaders, I have proposed a diplomatic surge in Iraq and in the neighboring countries. My plan to end the war also seeks to use policy measures now to ensure that our troops are not confronted with destabilizing ethnic strife that undercuts regional stability later. To that end, I have proposed that we condition any future assistance to Iraq on human rights performance, that we aggressively seek to assist Iraq's internally displaced now, that we increase funding for refugees in neighboring countries, and that we declare the international community's intention to hold the perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide accountable for their crimes. SECURITY: My first priority would be to end the war in Iraq. It has cost America dearly in terms of blood and treasure, been a diversion from the fight against al Qaeda, stretched our military, and undermined the view of the United States the world wide. Ending the war in Iraq will permit us to develop a comprehensive strategy against terrorism, which will be another chief national security priority of my administration. I will ensure that we are taking sufficient action against the terrorists on the right battlefield in Afghanistan and Pakistan; that we develop the capabilities and partnerships we need to counter the terrorist threat in other parts of the world; that we engage the world to dry up support for terrorism and extremism; that we restore for the rule of law and our values; and that we secure a resilient homeland. My administration will also make it a priority to marshal a global effort to meet a threat that rises above all others in urgency -- securing, destroying, and stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction. As president, I will lead a global effort to secure all nuclear weapons and material at vulnerable sites within four years -- the most effective way to prevent terrorists from acquiring a bomb. We should fully implement the law I passed with Senator Dick Lugar that would help the United States and our allies detect and stop the smuggling of weapons of mass destruction throughout the world. While we work to secure existing stockpiles of nuclear material, we should also negotiate a verifiable global ban on the production of new nuclear weapons material. As starting points, the world must prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and work to eliminate North Korea's nuclear weapons program. We must also dissuade other countries from joining the nuclear club. Countries should not be able to build a weapons program under the auspices of developing peaceful nuclear power. That's why we should create an international fuel bank to back up commercial fuel supplies so there's an assured supply and no more excuses for nations like Iran to build their own enrichment plants. And if we want the world to deemphasize the role of nuclear weapons, the United States and Russia must lead by example. President Bush once said, 'The United States should remove as many weapons as possible from high-alert, hair-trigger status -- another unnecessary vestige of Cold War confrontation.' Six years later, President Bush has not acted on this promise. I will. We cannot and should not accept the threat of accidental or unauthorized nuclear launch. We can maintain a strong nuclear deterrent to protect our security without rushing to produce a new generation of warheads. HEALTH CARE Every American has the right to affordable, comprehensive and portable health coverage. My plan will ensure that all Americans have health care coverage through their employers, private health plans, the federal government, or the states. My plan builds on and improves our current insurance system, which most Americans continue to rely upon, and creates a new public health plan for those currently without coverage. Under my plan, Americans will be able to choose to maintain their current coverage if they choose to. For those without health insurance I will establish a new public insurance program, and provide subsides to afford care for those who need them. My plan includes a mandate that all children have health care coverage and I will expand eligibility for the Medicaid and SCHIP programs to help ensure we cover all kids. My plan requires all employers to contribute towards health coverage for their employees or towards the cost of the public plan. Under my plan a typical family will save $2,500 each year. We will realize tremendous savings within the health care system from improving efficiency and quality and reducing wasted expenditures system-wide. Specifically, these savings will result from investments in health information technology, improvements in prevention and management of chronic conditions, increased insurance industry competition and reduced industry overhead, the provision of federal reinsurance for catastrophic coverage, and reduced spending on uncompensated care.
EDUCATION: The goal of the No Child Left Behind Act is the right one -- ensuring that all children can meet high standards -- but the law has significant flaws that need to be addressed. However, unfulfilled funding promises, inadequate implementation by the Department of Education, and shortcomings in the design of the law itself have limited its effectiveness and undercut its support among many people who care deeply about our schools and our students. The shortcomings of NCLB, however, shouldn't end the conversation. They should be the start of a conversation about how we can do better. One of the greatest troubles of No Child Left Behind is that we have spent too much time preparing students for tests that do not provide any valuable, timely feedback on how to improve a student's learning. We need tests and measurements, but we should ensure that they are useful to improve student learning. As president, I will support the creation of testing models that will: provide educators and students with timely feedback about how to improve student performance instead of arriving with too little too late; measure readiness for college and success in an information-age workplace by testing reading comprehension, writing skills, and other critical thinking skills; and indicate whether individual students are actually making progress toward reaching high standards. Good teachers with the tools to do their jobs should not have to teach to the test. They should be able to teach a rich curriculum.
CHANGES IN EDUCATION: As President, I'd launch a campaign to recruit and support hundreds of thousands of newteachers across the country, because the single most important factor inside the school building for a student's achievement is the person standing in front of the classroom. I will treat teachers like the professionals they are, making sure they get the pay they deserve, while working with them to develop the high standards we need. We need to create real career opportunities that reward successful teachers, motivate them to stay in the profession, and take advantage of their skills to help mentor new teachers. Teachers and educators need time to plan lessons and learn. That time should be made available each week and in the summer time. And teachers and principals should be paid for this additional work. We can't ignore that the achievement gap is a problem across the country. To tackle this problem, the first thing we have to do is close the gap that exists between children before they enter kindergarten by providing high-quality preschool opportunities to all children. Far too few Latino and African-American children are enrolled in early childhood education programs, despite the proven successes of such programs. As president, I will increase funding for Head Start and expand access to Pre-K. My plan to attract and retain high-quality teachers in high-needs districts will also go a long way toward closing this achievement gap. I have proposed grant funding for prospective teachers to serve residencies with school districts similar to training in other professional fields like medicine. Prospective teachers will learn from mentor teachers, with stipends provided to teachers-in-training in exchange for a commitment to teach in that district once they complete the program. This will provide effective training of new teachers in high-needs districts.
GAY MARRIAGE: I oppose the Federal Marriage Amendment.
CIVIL UNIONS: I support civil unions.
ABORTION: I have been a consistent champion of reproductive choice and will make preserving women's rights under Roe v. Wade a priority as president. I oppose any constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's decision in that case.
POOR: The federal government has a critical role to play in eradicating poverty. It's a moral outrage that in the richest nation on earth, 37 million Americans are living in poverty. I will increase federal funding for anti-poverty programs. In addition to passing my universal health care plan, I will fully fund the Community Development Block Grant program and create an Affordable Housing Trust Fund. I will increase funding for transitional jobs and career pathways programs and I'll provide greater supports for exoffenders and their families. I will ensure that minimum wage is indexed for inflation. And I will expand eligibility and increase the Earned Income Tax Credit to benefit 12 million Americans. Additionally, I have called for the creation of a new program that replicates the success of the Harlem Children's Zone -- an all-encompassing, all-hands-on-deck anti-poverty effort that is literally saving a generation of children in a neighborhood where they were never supposed to have a chance. As president, an important part of my plan to combat poverty will be to replicate the Harlem Children's Zone in twenty cities across the country. These 'Promise Neighborhoods' will focus on addressing concentrated, intergenerational poverty in our cities. We'll train staff, we'll have them draw up detailed plans with attainable goals, and the federal government will provide half of the funding for each city, with the rest coming from philanthropies and businesses. I will also create a White House Office of Urban Policy and have the Director of that Office report directly to me. Finally, I will provide families the support they need to raise their children. I will provide more financial support to fathers who make the responsible choice to help raise their children and crack down on the fathers who don't. And I'll help new mothers with their new responsibilities by expanding a pioneering program known as the Nurse-Family Partnership that offers home visits by trained registered nurses to low-income mothers and mothers-to-be. My plan will assist approximately 570,000 first-time mothers each year.
GUNS: Yes, I do think that reasonable gun control measures reduces violent crime and saves lives. I respect the constitutional rights of Americans to bear arms. But we can't deny that gun violence has taken the lives of too many Americans. I believe that through common-sense measures, we can keep guns from those who may pose a threat, while also protecting the rights of legitimate hunters and sportsmen.
GUN CONTROL: I support reasonable, common-sense measures to limit such occurrences. I would close the gun-show loophole and require mandatory background checks on purchasers at gun shows. That loophole has been exploited by everyone from foreign terrorists to the Columbine High School shooters. Closing it would not impair the rights of hunters and other lawful gun owners. I also believe that we should make the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent. Those weapons belong on a foreign battlefield, not on our streets. Finally, I support making guns in this country child proof. This is, again, a common-sense solution: guns and kids don't mix.
STEM CELL RESEARCH: No. Each year, 100,000 Americans will develop Alzheimer's disease, with impaired memory, ability to understand, and judgment. Over 1 million adults will be diagnosed with diabetes this year, and risk complications that include blindness, damaged nerves and loss of kidney function. We all know or have met individuals with spinal cord injuries, including national celebrities, local war heroes and loved ones from our own families and circles of friends, who are struggling to maintain mobility and independence. For most of our history, medicine has offered little hope of recovery to the 100 million individuals affected by these and other devastating illnesses and injuries. Until now. Recent developments in stem cell research may hold the key to improved treatments, if not cures, for those affected by Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, spinal cord injury and countless other conditions. For this reason, I am a proud supporter of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. The president was wrong to veto it, and I will make sure that it is finally signed into law when I'm president.
ENERGY: Global warming is not just the greatest environmental challenge facing our planet -- it is one of our greatest challenges of any kind. Combating global warming will be a top priority of my presidency, and I will attend to it personally. Putting a price on carbon is the most important step we can take to reduce emissions. I will enact an economy-wide market-based cap-and-trade system to reduce U.S. carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050. I will devote significant resources from a permit auction toward accelerating the development and deployment of low carbon technologies and addressing the economic challenges imposed on key industrial sectors. Another top priority for my energy and global warming agenda will be changing the cars we drive and the fossil fuels we burn. I will increase fuel efficiency standards by 4% per year, lift the 60,000-per-manufacturer cap on buyer tax credits to encourage more Americans to buy ultra-efficient vehicles, and encourage automakers to make fuel efficient hybrid vehicles. Domestic automakers will get either assistance shouldering their health care legacy costs in exchange for investing 50 percent of the savings into technology to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles or generous tax incentives for retooling assembly plants. I proposed a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard to reduce the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of passenger vehicle fuels sold in the U.S. by 10 percent in 2020 and require additional reductions of 1% annually thereafter.
ENERGY 2: Yes, I will dramatically increase federal investment in advanced clean-energy technologies and energy efficiency. I believe that the U.S. can and should be a global leader in the development of alternative energy sources, such as ethanol and other biofuels, as well as wind and solar. We should set benchmarks for production so that more companies will invest in production and create distribution facilities where the average consumer can access biofuels for cars designed to run on them. And I believe nationally we must get more energy from renewable sources and support a goal of 20% renewable energy by 2020. We have vast potential in this country to produce clean renewable energy and reduce our reliance on dwindling domestic natural gas reserves. The investment certainty provided by a significant RPS will encourage innovation, bring down the costs of renewable power, encourage necessary investment in new transmission, inspire new domestic industries, and strengthen rural economies. I will also create the 5-E (Energy Efficiency, Environmental Education and Employment) Disconnected Youth Service Corps. This program will directly engage disconnected and disadvantaged youth in energy efficiency and environmental service opportunities to strengthen their communities while also providing them with practical skills and experience in important career fields of expected high-growth employment. The program will engage private sector employers and unions to provide apprenticeship opportunities.
IMMIGRATION: I was very disappointed by the Congress's failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform. This crisis demands that we take action. Holes remain in our borders. Millions of undocumented immigrants persist in the shadows. I will work to pass comprehensive reform that protects our security, bolsters our economy, and preserves America's tradition as a nation of immigrants who are welcomed as long as they work hard and play by the rules.
IMMIGRATION 2: We need to work in a bipartisan way to achieve comprehensive immigration reform. First, on security, comprehensive reform has to mean gaining operational control of our borders by using better technology, improving infrastructure, and making smart choices about where we deploy resources on the Southern and Northern borders. These actions can strengthen our security while discouraging people from taking the risk of crossing the border illegally. Second, at the workplace, we need a simple, but mandatory electronic system that enables employers to verify the legal status of the people they hire. Third, we need to bring the 12 million undocumented people out of the shadows. We need to be realistic about the fact that they are here, we can't deport them, and they have become an integral part of our society. We need to give this population a chance to pay a fine, to have provisional status in the country, and to get into the back of the line for citizenship.
AFFIRMIATIVE ACTION: I support affirmative action. When there is strong evidence of prolonged and systemic discrimination by organizations, affirmative action may be the only meaningful remedy available. Affirmative action programs, when properly structured, can open up opportunities otherwise closed to qualified minorities without having an adverse impact on the opportunities for whites. And while I support affirmative action for minorities, I also support efforts to increase opportunities for qualified students from low-income college to attend colleges and universities -- regardless of their race.
BUDGET ISSUES 1 I am committed to restoring fiscal discipline and reforming our current budget and tax system. The most important first step we can take on that path is to restore pay-as-you-go spending rules so that we do not dig ourselves into deeper debt. My priorities will not increase the deficit. I will pay for each of the investments I call for by either cutting other spending or finding new revenue sources. If in the end I can't find enough offsets to fund all of my priorities, I will prioritize them. I will protect the tax cuts for the middle class, but I will repeal the unnecessary tax cuts for oil and gas companies and for the wealthiest Americans.
BUDGET ISSUES 2 Yes. I support the tax cuts for low and middle income families and will work to make them permanent in a fiscally responsible way. These are the families facing the greatest economic challenges and anxiety, and they are the ones who should benefit first. I do not support making permanent Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy. Rather than providing expensive, deficit-financed tax cuts that benefit the wealthiest Americans, we should be working to fix our tax system to help the middle-class. Extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy simply does not do that.
ECONOMY: Today's economic growth and federal economic policies disproportionately benefit the wealthiest of Americans, many of whom have armies of lobbyists and political fundraisers at their disposal. Special interests that have spent billions of dollars lobbying Washington have received preferential tax treatment, scores of congressional earmarks and favorable regulatory decisions at the expense of low and middle-income Americans. My top priority in Washington is to put America's interests before the special interests and ensure that the benefits of globalization and economic growth are distributed more fairly in our society.
ECONOMY 2: First, I will make strategic, long-term investments into American infrastructure to create more high-wage jobs. I will expand federal funding for basic research, make the tax credit for research and development permanent, and expand the deployment of broadband technology, so that businesses can invest in innovation and create high-paying, secure jobs. And I will make investments in education, training, and workforce development so that Americans can leverage our strengths -- our ingenuity and entrepreneurialism -- to create new high-wage jobs and prosper in a world economy. Second, I will fight against trade agreements that undermine American competitiveness and use trade as a tool to grow American jobs. I will use trade agreements to spread good labor and environmental standards around the world and stand firm against agreements like the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) that fail to live up to those important benchmarks. Third, I will promote digital inclusion. Getting broadband Internet access into every home and business in urban America at an affordable rate could give low-income people increased opportunities to start businesses and engage actively in our communities.
SOCIAL SECUIRTY: No, I do not support the privatization of Social Security. I opposed President Bush s privatization scheme because it would have undermined -- not strengthened - Social Security. We should not add greater risk or debt to the system. Otherwise, workers who contribute to the Social Security System may face the prospect of inadequate benefits when they retire or if they become disabled if their investments go sour. Workers have lived up to their end of the bargain. Surely, the federal government can do the same. Social Security is one of the most important government programs ever created; it provides a vital safety net to millions of seniors and Americans with disabilities. The long-term problem with this program is real but manageable. With a little genuine bipartisan leadership, we can make the necessary adjustments without gutting the system with privatization, as President Bush has proposed.
SOCIAL SECURITY 2: Social Security is indispensable to our workers and seniors. It is a great reflection of our values and commitments, and I want to make sure it is solvent and viable for the American people, now and in the future. The focus of reform options should be on protecting the basic integrity and fairness of Social Security. I will work in a bipartisan way to maintain Social Security's solvency for future generations. I believe everything has to be on the table that is genuinely intended to strengthen the program. We can close the gap with an equitable mix of benefit and tax changes similar to those recommended by the bipartisan Greenspan Commission in 1983.
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