BARACK OBAMA ON THE ISSUES
Barack Obama believes we can unite people around a politics that puts solving the challenges of everyday-Americans, ahead of partisan calculation and special interest politics.
Iraq
Obama opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning, and has a plan to responsibly end the war. Obama would immediately begin to pull out troops engaged in combat operations and pressure the Iraqi government to reconcile. He would call for a new constitutional convention with the United Nations. And he would take immediate steps to confront the humanitarian disaster in Iraq.
Healthcare
Obama will sign legislation by the end of his first term in office that will provide quality, affordable and portable health care to every single American. His plan will save a typical family up to $2,500 every year by providing health coverage for every American, modernizing the U.S. health care system to contain costs, promoting prevention, and strengthening public health
Economy
Obama will restore fairness to the tax code and provide 150 million workers with a tax cut, including a new tax credit worth up to $500 per worker. He will make strategic long-term investments in research, infrastructure, education, training, and workforce development so that America can create new high-wage jobs and prosper in the world economy. Barack Obama will fight for trade agreements that grow American jobs and contain good labor and environmental standards.
Education
Obama is committed to strengthening our public schools. He will increase investment in early childhood education, and reform and fund No Child Left Behind. Obama will support paying teachers like the professionals they are and will encourage the development of professional, differentiated teacher compensation systems. Pay reform will be done with teachers, not to them. He will make college affordable for every American by expanding grant aid and reforming federal student loans to free up more money for student aid.
Energy and the Environment
Obama has been a leader in the fight to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and minimize the effects of climate change on our planet. He strongly supports the most aggressive cap-and-trade approach to achieve an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050.
BARACK OBAMA ON THE JOB MARKET
BARACK OBAMA WILL CONTINUE TO WORK TO SPUR JOB GROWTH Support Job Creation
Barack Obama believes we need to expand federal funding for basic research, expand the deployment of broadband technology, and make the research and development tax credit permanent so that businesses can invest in innovation and create high-paying, secure jobs.
Fight for Fair Trade
Obama will fight for a trade policy that opens up foreign markets to support good American jobs. He will use trade agreements to spread improved 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 standards.
Help American Workers Compete in the Global Economy
In today’s economy, American workers have to compete against high-skilled workers across the globe. Obama will make long-term 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.
Help Low-Income Workers Climb the Job Market
Many people in poverty find it hard to break into the job market, then to rise into middle-class jobs. Obama supports investing in effective bridge and transitional job programs to help unemployed and entry-level workers reach full-time, living-wage employment.
Raise the Minimum Wage
Obama believes that people who work full time should not live in poverty. As president, Obama would raise the minimum wage, index it to inflation, and increase the Earned Income Tax Credit to make sure that full-time workers have a fair wage.
End Tax Breaks for Companies that Send Jobs Overseas
Obama believes that companies should not get billions of dollars in tax deductions for moving overseas. Obama will fight to ensure that public contracts are awarded to companies committed to the American worker
BARACK OBAMA ON FAITH
Personal Faith
Obama has been a member of the United Church of Christ, a Protestant denomination, for over twenty years. He, his wife Michelle and his daughters are active in the faith community.
Moral Leadership
Obama’s faith shapes his values, as it does for millions of Americans. As he said in a recent speech on faith and politics: …”Our values should express themselves not just through our churches or synagogues, temples or mosques; they should express themselves through our government. Because whether it's poverty or racism, the uninsured or the unemployed, war or peace, the challenges we face today are not simply technical problems in search of the perfect ten-point plan. They are moral problems, rooted in both societal indifference and individual callousness - in the imperfections of man. And so long as we're not doing everything in our personal and collective power to solve them, we know the conscience of our nation cannot rest.
Record of Engaging People of Faith
Obama has a record of engaging people of faith on all aspects of his public service. His first job out of college was bringing churches together to help address the poorest Chicago neighborhoods’ pressing problems. After Hurricane Katrina, Obama united relief organizations and churches to discuss rebuilding the Gulf Coast. Obama also passed legislation that saved tithing from bankruptcy courts.
Bold Statements on Faith and Politics
In June of 2006, Obama delivered what a Washington Post columnist called perhaps the most important speech on religion and politics in 40 years. Speaking before an evangelical audience, Senator Obama candidly discussed his own Christian faith and the need for a deeper, more substantive conversation about the role of faith in American life. In December of 2006, Obama joined Pastor Rick Warren to discuss moral leadership and Global AIDS. And in June of 2007, Obama challenged Americans to come together around a ‘Politics of Conscience’ to move our nation forward. "And that night...I said a prayer of my own. It's a prayer I think I share with a lot of Americans...A hope that we can live with one another in a way that reconciles the beliefs of each with the good of all." -Call to Renewal Keynote Address, June 28, 2006
BARACK OBAMA ON TAXES
Obama and McCain Tax Proposals
According to a new analysis by the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain are both proposing tax plans that would result in cuts for most American families. Obama's plan gives the biggest cuts to those who make the least, while McCain would give the largest cuts to the very wealthy. For the approximately 147,000 families that make up the top 0.1 percent of the income scale, the difference between the two plans is stark. While McCain offers a $269,364 tax cut, Obama would raise their taxes, on average, by $701,885 - a difference of nearly $1 million. According to a new analysis by the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain are both proposing tax plans that would result in cuts for most American families. Obama's plan gives the biggest cuts to those who make the least, while McCain would give the largest cuts to the very wealthy. For the approximately 147,000 families that make up the top 0.1 percent of the income scale, the difference between the two plans is stark. While McCain offers a $269,364 tax cut, Obama would raise their taxes, on average, by $701,885 - a difference of nearly $1 million.