Barack Obama

[5ft Diva]

***This thread is intended to be a conduit of information on this presidential candidate. We welcome your opinions.***

What kind of issues does Barack Obama plan on tackling if he becomes president?

Where do you think he wants to lead our country?

How do you feel about him becoming president?

[5ft Diva]

Is this thread not getting any response because you all feel like me? (You don't really know anything about the candidate.) Or are you just afraid of getting into a heated argument? Or....does the topic not interest you? Or........are my questions confusing? (This happens a lot, I know.)

I'm pushing for a discussion on this thread because I really want to be informed from more than just my own research (which isn't much at this point) and/or the media's reports. I loved the exposure I had from other's viewpoints about school vouchers last year. I really learned a lot. I'm hoping for the same kind of thing here.

[natickgirl]

These are only my opinions. Feel free to offer yours if you disagree...

Obama is really big on universal health care, funding government-sponsored welfare programs, ending the war in Iraq, boosting the economy, and spreading the wealth from the top down. This all sounds great, exept that much of it will come at the price of higher taxes and more "big government". He is also very liberal on issues such as abortion, stem-cell research, and same-sex rights.

RE: Universal health coverage:

I think Obama is going about fixing the health-care crisis in the wrong way. Massachusetts has implemented a state-mandate that everyone needs health insurance, either private or through their employers. Good idea, right? Theoretically, yes, but it has come at a very high price. It has created unnecessary burdens for small businesses who can't afford health insurance for their employees (who weren't required to before), for lower middle class families who struggle to stay on top of monthly bills, and for the general population, whose taxes pay for the low-income families to get on state-sponsored insurance. With the current economic situation, more people applied for the state-sponsored insurance than the government anticipated, so the allocated funding is not enough. MA will have to borrow funding from other programs to pay for insurance, or deny more applications.

Bottom line: the gov. (state or national) can't afford to provide universal health coverage. The problem lies with rising obesity levels (especially among low-income families), rising health care costs, sue-happy lawyers, greedy insurance companies, and the way programs such as Medicaid (or is it Medicare--I get them confused) pay for health care. We would do better to privatize health insurance so there is competition--which keeps costs lower than a monopoly--and to spend more money on education & programs to combat obesity & diabetes, such as teaching low-income families how to prepare low-cost, low-fat, nutritious food & increasing recess/PE at school.

RE: War In Iraq.

I don't necessarily agree with the reasons why we went to war, or with the way the war has been carried out. Nonetheless, I think our troops need to stay in Iraq until it is fully stabilized. Otherwise, we'll be in a worse situation as far as international opinion goes than we are now, and the entire world will pay for the increased unrest in the middle east. We owe it to the Iraqi civilians & government to help them regain appropriate control & rebuild their country.

RE: Welfare programs:

In my 4 years of working for DCFS, I saw so many abuses of the welfare programs. These programs just aren't being run very effectively. Many people use it as an excuse not to work hard to support themselves. There are so many who really need services, and who should get them, but there needs to be a way to weed out the freeloaders. We don't need more money being pored into programs (who would pay for it?) we need programs run more efficiently. Obama needs to look for ways to improve existing programs before he dumps millions (paid for my us taxpayers) into new programs.

RE: "Sharing the wealth" by raising corporate taxes

Again, I think Obama is right in his desire, but wrong in his approach. I would love to be given something for nothing...wouldn't we all? But that doesn't mean I should take money from someone who has earned (or inherited) it just because I don't have as much as they do. Why should wealthy people or corporations be required to give me some of their money? We live in a free-market, capitalistic society where some "make it" and others don't. (I haven't "made it" yet.) I think a better approach would be to stop jailing minor criminals, and use that money to provide education, drug-rehab, and "safe" places for teens to be off the streets. Simply providing down 'n out people with opportunities to improve their lives will automatically help spread the wealth. That is the whole idea behind the Perpetual Education Fund operated by the Church. The Church doesn't force it's wealthy members to give handouts to the less fortunate. Most high-net-worth people (and corporations) voluntarily donate to well-run programs aimed at helping those less fortunate. The U.S. gov. could learn a few lessons from the Church's welfare & education programs! Forced taxation should not be the answer.

RE: Moral issues.

Again, I think Obama is wrong. He wants equal rights for everyone, which is a great idea, but at what expense? Our nation has seen a terrible decline in morality in the last 40 years, and a lot of it stems from people not wanting to take responsibility for their actions (abortion), or people wanting their lifestyles to be acknowledged as acceptable when, in fact, they are against God's laws (homosexuality). In the Book of Mormon, it reminds us that this nation is a chosen nation only as long as it's citizens obey God's laws. I think there will be long-lasting and irreversible societal ramifications if same-sex marriage and/or "union" is legalized nationwide. I've already seen it here in MA. I'm not sure, but I think Obama isn't necessarily FOR same-sex marriage, but he definitely hasn't taken a strong stance against it. I think stem-cell research is promising, but we should only get the stem-cells from umbilical cord blood of newborns, NOT from aborted fetuses. I am against abortion. Period. Even in cases of rape & incest. The only uncertainty I have is whether it is OK when the mother's life is endangered, especially if she has other children to care for. In that situation, I still don't think I'd consider aborting my baby.

SO.....bottom line: I think Obama genuinely wants to help our nation out of the slump it is in. He seems to be a good & intelligent guy. His wife is inspiring, and his children are cute. I just don't agree with him, and I don't think he has the necessary experience to effectively lead our nation, especially not in a difficult economic situation like we're facing today.

I am proud of the democratic party for their ability to get past race & gender issues in their choice of candidates (Obama & previously Hillary Clinton). I only hope people can get past religion issues someday, too. I think a lot of republicans voted AGAINST Romney rather than FOR McCain, or even Huckabee. Why can people unite behind candidates of a different race or gender, but not a different religion? Would the general population elect a Jew? A Muslim? What if Obama were Hispanic & not African American...would he still have been nominated? Something to think about.

What are your opinions?

[bookworm]

I didn't reply because I knew I would have a hard time expressing my opinions concisely and clearly. NG, you did a great job. I agree with almost everything you said.

I don't quite know what Obama really stands for. His key words are "change" and "hope". Those are great slogans, they look good on posters and bumper stickers, but they don't really mean anything.

I can't remember any speeches or partial speeches in which I heard strong ideas to solve the problems our country is facing. I can't remember hearing much at all from him except "hope" and "change". He seems young and inexperienced to me, and frankly, he's unqualified for the job. He is probably a great guy- he is charming and young, but frankly, that doesn't qualify you to lead the country. I'm not terribly impressed.

I was terrified to have Hilary in the running, so I'm glad that threat has passed, but I'm not sure how Obama is much better.

Liberal or not, if Obama had come up with amazing solutions to our problems, I might have been persuaded to listen. I haven't heard anything. I don't know what his plans are. Rhetoric will get us nowhere. Maybe the demos plan for him to be a puppet, and there will be people in the wings prodding him to do their bidding... I don't know...LOL, that sounds like a conspiracy theory, doesn't it??

[5ft Diva]

I really appreciate both of these responses. My opinions are not as eloquent so if presentation is important to you, stop reading now!!!!

I can honestly say I haven't paid much attention to Obama because his ideals are not the same as mine and yet it hit me the other day that I really should start paying attention because if he does get elected for president then I want to know who's running the country.

I tried to watch the democratic convention the other night but was terribly bored. I felt it was a bunch of "look at me, Mom!" and I was quite disgusted. I know the republican convention will be the same way, but maybe I'll be able to stomach some of the speeches.

Who is Joe Biden anyway? From what I've read he's supposed to make up in the areas where Obama lacks. Hmmm..... well, like I said, not a lot of thoughts.

My one thought though, after reading up on Obama is that he does want change, but that the way he's presenting the change (to me at least) is to stop doing what doesn't work all together. Meaning....abandon ship. In my mind I envision a bunch of empty warehouses. Good money put into them. Still useful, but because they aren't producing the kinds of products we like, we're just going to abandon these and go spend more money on new and better warehouses from the ground up rather than improve and even remodel what is already there. I do believe that some things need changing and creating new programs are good if they are really needed, but I do believe we can use what is already in existence to save money, too, since we're already in a huge deficit. I don't know - I think I'm concerned about where Obama is planning on getting all this money he wants to use that we don't have. Isn't this the same idea that creates the down town ghetto? People taking their businesses to a more attractive area rather than staying where they're at and improving the area all together? My impression is that he doesn't want to change what's bad, he just wants to change the scenery, which in turn leaves a lot of broken programs and more government funds spent on what we think will be the next big thing for America, therefore, creating an American ghetto.

Everything I read about Obama says that he's going to preserve the American Dream. I say, it's time to stop dreaming. We've made decades of mistakes (like spending too much and freeloading too long) and it's time to fix them, which means that our dreams need to be put on hold for a little bit. And, unfortunately, it's going to be the future presidents who contribute to fixing those problems we've made. We can only stop running away from the real problems for so long. I think I'm going off on a tangent now. I'll stop. Sorry.

These are my thoughts anyway.

(Hope you were able to follow my imagery and symbolisms. I can be a bit confusing at times because I can only explain what it looks like in my head.)