Barack Obama Elected President!

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

She has more Exec experience than them all. I believe Barack has overall more experience than her, Joe Biden has more experience than her. Mccain tops Obama but thats about it. He's a damn fool and the only way for Barack to get the experience is to start somewhere. He has started already and will gain more experience in the White House, with Joe Biden, and many great Cabinet and Congress members by his side.

[George008]

Ok. I will post his reduction plans..again..

By the way...I have looked at Obama's website and I can find NOTHING about reducing spending.

Reforming Washington to Regain the Trust of Taxpayers

Bring The Budget

To Balance By 2013

John McCain will balance the budget by the end of his first term. The near-term path to balance is built on three principles:

Reasonable economic growth. Growth is an imperative - historically the greatest success in reducing deficits (late 1980s; late 1990s) took place in the context of economic growth.

Comprehensive spending controls. Bringing the budget to balance will require across-the-board scrutiny of spending and making tough choices on new spending proposals.

Bi-partisanship in budget efforts. Much as the late 1990s witnessed bipartisan efforts to put the fiscal house in order, bi-partisan efforts will be the key to undoing the recent spending binge.

In the long-term, the only way to keep the budget balanced is successful reform of the large spending pressures in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

McCain Policies Will Support Reasonable Economic Growth: Small business is the key to job growth. Small business will benefit from:

Low individual tax rates - sole-proprietorships, partnerships, landlords and others are taxed under the individual income tax.

Access to capital from low tax rates on dividends and capital gains.

Minimizing expensive mandates - such as those for health insurance and pro-union initiatives like card check.

Enhancing international competitiveness to keep jobs here; not abroad.

A lower corporate tax rate.

Improved investment and research incentives to ensure that workers have the most modern technology.

Bringing the budget to balance, reducing federal borrowing, and controlling spending to reduce the burden on the economy.

Comprehensive Spending Controls: John McCain will institute broad reforms to control spending:

The McCain administration would reserve all savings from victory in the Iraq and Afghanistan operations in the fight against Islamic extremists for reducing the deficit. Since all their costs were financed with deficit spending, all their savings must go to deficit reduction.

A one-year spending pause. Freeze non-defense, non-veterans discretionary spending for a year and use those savings for deficit reduction. A one-year pause in the growth of discretionary spending will be imposed to allow for a comprehensive review of all spending programs. After the completion of a comprehensive review of all programs, projects and activities of the federal government, we will propose a plan to modernize, streamline, consolidate, reprioritize and, where needed, terminate individual programs.

Take back earmark funds. The McCain Administration will reclaim billions of add-on spending from earmarks and add-ons in FY 2007 and 2008.

Bi-partisan Fiscal Discipline: A McCain Administration will provide the leadership to achieve bipartisan spending restraint equivalent to that in the 1997 Balanced Budget Agreement between a GOP Congress and a Democratic President. In 1997, President Clinton and the GOP Congress agreed to balance the budget by restraining the growth in spending and cutting taxes over a ten-year period.

With the same bipartisan effort today, with the federal budget that is now 70 percent larger, we could keep taxes low and still balance the budget by holding overall spending growth to 2.4 percent. Unlike Congress and the Executive branch in recent years, a McCain Administration will enforce the spending restraint to balance the budget and keep it balanced.

A McCain Administration would perform a comprehensive review of all programs, projects and activities of the federal government, and then propose a plan to modernize, streamline, consolidate, reprioritize and, where needed, terminate individual programs. McCain could use the bi-partisan commission structure used for the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC). Such a commission could be required to report to the President who would then submit the recommendations to the Congress for a straight up or down vote.

A McCain Administration will review all special spending provisions to end subsidies to high-income individuals and corporations

Eliminating Wasteful Spending

Stop Earmarks, Pork-Barrel Spending, And Waste: John McCain will veto every pork-laden spending bill and make their authors famous. As President, he will seek the line-item veto to reduce waste and eliminate earmarks that have led to corruption. Earmarks restrict America's ability to address genuine national priorities and interfere with fair, competitive markets.

Leadership, Courage And Choices: Reducing spending means making choices. John McCain will provide the courageous leadership necessary to control spending, including:

Eliminate broken government programs. The federal government itself admits that one in five programs do not perform.

Reform our civil service system to promote accountability and good performance in our federal workforce.

Reform procurement programs and cut wasteful spending in defense and non-defense programs.

Reforming Entitlement Programs For The 21st Century

Reform Social Security: John McCain will fight to save the future of Social Security, and he believes that we may meet our obligations to the retirees of today and the future without raising taxes. John McCain supports supplementing the current Social Security system with personal accounts - but not as a substitute for addressing benefit promises that cannot be kept. John McCain will reach across the aisle to address these challenges, but if the Democrats do not act, he will. No problem is in more need of honesty than the looming financial challenges of entitlement programs. Americans have the right to know the truth and John McCain will not leave office without fixing the problems that threatens our future prosperity and power.

Control Medicare Growth: The growth of spending on Medicare threatens our fiscal future. John McCain has proposed comprehensive health care reforms that will reduce the growth in Medicare spending, improve the quality of care, protect seniors against rising Medicare premium payments, and preserve the advancements in medical science central to providing quality care.

[Roman]

Amazing.

Now McCain is NOT voting with Bush.

Whatever.

I know the facts, not opinion. By this logic, Sarah Palin has more executive than John McCain. But now that is not being mentioned.

This has really been fun, but when someone changes whatever they say to fit whatever agenda they are pushing, it just does not seem......

feasible to me.

[George008]

What does that even mean? Voting with Bush? What does Bush vote on????? Do you know how the branches of government work?

I will say this for the third time now...Palin has more executive experience than Obama, Biden, and McCain. Dems ticket: exec. exper. 0. Republicans 1

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

Casey, take your head out for a little bit. You'll realize that Obama and McCain both have plans on their websites. Barack says how he will do things, and I'll give you this. Mccain does too. You keep asking how? I think you want to know exactly how, step by step. I'm of the opinion that you'll just have to wait until Barack gets in to office to see. He knows what he wans to do, but he will seek the council of advisors and members of Gov't with more experience, then he will act, with their input. That's how it is supposed to go.

[Roman]

Yes, I do know how they work. Thanks.

And Palin is the same person who said she had not paid that much attention to the war in Iraq.

She could be the C-N-C.......and has not paid that much attention to the war?!

Now, what is THAT bull?!

And by your logic, Sarah Palin should be the POTUS.......thesame person who asked what exactly does the VICE president do.

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

So if Mccain should abandon the presidency for any reason, her 1 and a half years of Exec experience will mean something? She'll be out before she even gets called on, should she be President.

[George008]

take my head out? Please respond to me with more civility. Forgive my next statement because it will be hypocritical, however I cant help myself....I can see that you are angry because you cant convey your support of Obama with reasoning or intelligence, but you dont have to turn this into a bickering match.

I would prefer to elect someone that will convey exactly how they will accomplish what they say, instead of on the job training. This job is way too important for that.

With the same reasoning, Should Obama?

[Ryan]

I went to Obama's website and pulled up some of his plans. Some he talks about on the site, the other he spoke about in his speech.

http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/ObamaBlueprintForChange.pdf

It's not that hard...it needs to be updated though.

[George008]

Well then what does Bush "vote" on? You said McCain is voting with him.

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

Obama should run for President. He has proven that he is ready. They said the same things to Bill Clinton. He was too young, didnt know much. He came in and kicked ass (to most), and went down as one of the greatest. Barack Obama will do the same. He chose a VP who can keep him in line, who wont be a yes man, someone who knows his stuff. McCain on the other hand, having the experience already, choses a not so experienced yes woman, snubbing 3 other candidates who have the experience and who would be able to take over in a heartbeat. To me, we are talking different situations.

[George008]

Exactly. We are talking about different situations. You are saying that your presidential nominee has less experience that your VP, while I am saying that the republican nominee has a wealth of experience and he choose to use the less important VP nom to invoke a different outlook. Safer approach IMO.

Clinton picked a young running mate in Al Gore to further his progressive campaign. Obama caved into acknowleding that he IS weak in experience and foreign affairs.

Domestic issues aside. I think the most important factor that faces or next president is diplomatic affairs. If you want to use the examples of past president's ages then I would rather have someone with Reagan's age and experience. Remember what he did for the world?

[Ryan]

No matter what side of the fence we may lie on, remember this..."memores acti prudentes futuri" meaning "mindful of what has been done, aware of what will be".

We have to be mindful of what the past 8 years have brought America, and be sure that we make the right decision when we choose the team that will lead the next 4-8 years.

[Jess]

A big test of leadership is hiring. Obama did far better than McCain. Presidents also have limited powers . The greatest power is the power to persuade. Obama wins that too. As far as specific proposals, McCain is no better.

[George008]

Using that logic the Republican voters have done a better job of "hiring" than the democrats during the primaries.