14th
From Marc Vogl
My friend Marc has been working hard to put Obama in the White House. In a recent email calling people to action, he included the following talking points, which I think say a lot about the two candidates:
Even if you can’t convince someone to support Barack at least you can let them know the truth:
· THE TRUTH: In responses to the “swiftboating” attack ads going on Barack has this created this site to set the record straight: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/fightthesmearshome
· TAXES – Obama will cut taxes for 95% of working Americans. He’ll do it by providing a $500 tax credit for each worker and $1000 for each working family; provide a 10% break on mortgage interest payments for 10 million homeowner; eliminate all income taxes for seniors making less than $50,000 a year; and provide $4000 tax credit for college tuition to anyone who commits to 100 hours of public service. [Obama Speech, Dover, NH, September 12, 2008] For those that want to learn more from the authors of Obama’s Tax Plan directly: http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121867201724238901.html
“McCain proposes cutting the gasoline tax paid by the oil companies and trust that they will pass on the savings in the form of lower prices at the pump. He’s proposing tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans in the hopes that a little bit of it will trickle down to ordinary Americans. I do not believe that giving $4 billion in new tax cuts to oil companies will create any jobs or save you any money. I believe that if we want relief for families, we should give relief to families, not oil companies. If we want to create jobs, we should do more to make work pay for ordinary Americans, not boost the profits of oil companies.” - [Barack Obama, August 1, 2008]
· ENERGY – McCain has been in the senate for 26 years and has voted against increased fuel efficiency standards & tax credits for more efficient cars; against renewable sources of energy. Against clean biofuels. Against solar power. Against wind power. When Senator McCain talks about the failure of politicians in Washington to do anything about our energy crisis, it’s important to remember that he’s been a part of that failure. Now, after years of inaction, and in the face of public frustration over rising gas prices, the only energy proposal he’s really promoting is more offshore drilling. ;
OBAMA’s ENERGY, GREEN JOBS, CARBON REDUCTION PLAN: eliminate the need for oil from the entire Middle East and Venezuela in ten years by investing $150 billion and leveraging billions more in private capital to build a new energy economy that harnesses American energy and creates five million new American jobs. (1) invest in the US auto industry and offer $7,000 credits to consumers to put 1 million 150 mile-per-gallon plug-in hybrids on our roads within six years; (2) require that 10% of our energy comes from renewable sources by the end of the first term – more than double what we have now. (3) call on businesses, government, and the American people to meet the goal of reducing our demand for electricity 15% by the end of the next decade. This is by far the fastest, easiest, and cheapest way to reduce our energy consumption – and it will save us $130 billion on our energy bills —— We will set a goal of making our new buildings 50% more efficient over the next four years. Along with the cap-and-trade program I’ve proposed, we will reduce our dangerous carbon emissions 80% by 2050. [Obama speech, Michigan State University, Monday, August 4th, 2008] Read the full plan at http://www.NewEnergyforAmerica.com
· EDUCATION – McCain has opposed expanding Head Start, fully funding No Child Left Behind and called for the closure of the Department of Education; Obama wants to increase the number of students taking college-level and AP courses; expand innovation and school choice by doubling funding of responsible charter schools; create teacher Residency Programs that will train 30,000 high-quality teachers a year and expand mentoring programs that pair experienced, successful teachers with new recruits. He also wants teachers and school boards to come together to design performance pay plans. All this will be equal to the cost of just a few days in Iraq and made by possible by carefully winding down the war in Iraq.
· Iraq & Afghanistan - McCain goes even further than President Bush in opposing the sovereign Iraqi government’s own support for a timetable to redeploy our troops. Bush wants to leave 140,000 troops in Iraq costing $12 billion a month [$5,000 a second] while Iraq sits on a $79 billion surplus; Bush’s plan is to keep four times more troops in Iraq than Afghanistan, and we have no comprehensive plan to deal with the al Qaeda sanctuary in northwest Pakistan. Obama will succeed in Iraq by responsibly removing our combat brigades and pressing Iraqis to stand up for their future, by having a comprehensive strategy to finish the job in Afghanistan – with more troops, more training for Afghan security forces, more development resources, more anti-corruption safeguards, and more of a focus on eliminating the Taliban and al Qaeda sanctuary along the Pakistan border. [Obama speech, September 9, 2008] More American soldiers and coalition troops will die this year in Afghanistan than in any of the first 5 years in that war. Osama Bin Laden is still at large. [Associated Press, August 24, 2008]
Much more information at: http://origin.barackobama.com/issues/
