Obama Vs. McCain...and the ideas behind them.

When a candidate running for the 2008 U.S. Presidential election is faced with the nation's biggest problems and is asked how to solve them, how does he respond? Is his answer to each question simply a facade in which they can hide behind just so that he may obtain the highest number of votes throughout the country? Or is his motives for the answer he may give something more...like perhaps, what he will really strive to do? This campaign, unlike others, questions the strategies and plans of the two core candidates: Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. This time around, differing from the previous elections of past years, the questions focus on somewhat diverse issues...such as the high and rising cost of the nation's gas prices, taxes, the rates of unemployment throughout the country, the national housing crisis in the midst of the American people, and of course, the plan for what lies behind the issue of modern foreign trade.

Let's start with Obama...and his thoughts on each of these dire needs.

When asked upon what he thought of the rising payments American people continued to make at the pump, Obama stated, "Now, the only thing as predictable as rising gas prices are the short-term political solutions that usually come along with them. " Is Obama really after the simple 'tickling their ears' answer and response, or is he showing his sickness of the average 'tell them what they want to hear' speech that everyone seems to hide behind? Obama realizes that the average modern-day politician says just what the people want and then, once elected, forgets all about the promise he made in his speech to the American people. The American people, feeling cheated out of the deal, turn angry and place disgust towards their newly elected President. Obama then goes on to say, "None of these proposals are going to do any harm. Some will provide Americans temporary relief at the pump, but, in the long term, we can't keep on relying solely on quick fixes designed to placate an anxious public. We need proactive solutions that are designed to lessen our dependence on foreign oil and bring down prices for good. Washington privately understands this but perhaps because of the influence of the oil companies, some of it having to do with ideology, Washington has just been unwilling to take the hard steps necessary to confront what I consider to be one of the most pressing economic and national security challenges in the 21st century. So, the time for excuses is over. Now's not the moment where we should be afraid of what is going to seem politically difficult or controversial. Now's the time to call for innovation and sacrifice from those institutions that can make a difference: the auto industry, the oil industry, the federal government." It seems, or would seem to the American people, that Obama is more trying to see a solution for the long run of fixing the rising price of gas rather than facing this issue and temporarily patching it up while in a few years, he'll have to pull his finger out of the hole in the dam and the water may come gushing out after he has already left the Presidential office. Instead of having the entirety of the water damage, Obama seems to be seeking a permanent solution for the "pain at the pump".

Obama on taxes is now somewhat upsetting to the American people because there are many reports upon which have record of Senator Obama saying that he will raise taxes for a huge chunk of the country. But if we were to think about it...what kind of person would actually LIKE this? On one website, a response to the raise in taxes plan by Obama states, "Make more than $250,000 a year? Watch out. Barack Obama wants to raise your income taxes. Social Security taxes, too." Now for those families across the United States of America that make this much or more each year with the family income, this is a HUGE deal....which might as well be the entire country. According to this plan, Obama's so-called "strategy" might just be the biggest thorn in the side of America's economy we've ever had...even compared to the current state it is in with President Bush as our leader. The tax raise? Not sounding so good to me.

Now for Obama's stand on the rate of unemployment...

On one website dealing with the state of all the issues the candidates are facing this '08 election, Obama has been added to the list. The site states,

"Words: Obama believes that the minimum wage should be a “living wage” and argues that the burdens of globalization are placed on the backs of workers. He argues that tax cuts for the rich do not create jobs and that unions should be strengthened.

Actions: Obama voted FOR raising the minimum wage to $7.25 (2005 & 2007) and FOR restricting employer interference in union organizing (2007). The AFL-CIO has given him a rating of 100%."

So what does Obama believe as far as unemployment goes? Back and forth, back and forth...perhaps it is like the Tootsie Pop commercials..."the world may never know."

Housing...Crisis? Obama says, "I don't think that we're necessarily going in the direction of the Depression...There are some similarities, though, to what happened back in the late 20s and early 30s and what's been happening now, and the biggest similarity is how we've been dealing with Wall Street and what's happening in the financial markets. As your president my job is to regulate what happens in the financial markets to make sure that people aren't taking these kinds of risks and that we're having full disclosure. If we do that then I think we can feel pretty confident we're going to avoid a depression."

Did Obama compare this time of our economic struggle to the times known as The Great Depression? He may be right. In the downhill slope, we're downhill all the way. Obama sounds like he may once again, like the gas issue, be looking and searching for a more permanent solution than sticking his finger in the hole in the dam. Perhaps we CAN avoid the depression's direction...if we are careful.

In a recent article found in the New York Times, Larry Rohter writes this of Obama's stance on the idea of foreign trade, " 'You can’t get beef into Japan and Korea, even though, obviously, we have the highest safety standards of anybody, but they don’t want to have that competition from U.S. producers,' Mr. Obama said last month in a speech to farmers in South Dakota. Last week, near Detroit, he asserted that 'if South Korea is selling hundreds of thousands of cars to the United States and we can only sell less than 5,000 in South Korea, something is wrong.' "

Maybe he wants foreign trade, maybe not. He seems rather somewhat offended when faced with the issue of how many foreugn cars the American people are buying versus how many cars the foreign people are buying from US. Is it all a game of how many and how much? Maybe. Trade and the ideas founded behind it seem all a little too sketchy to tell still for Senator Obama. Time will tell, Senator. Time will tell.

Now onto Senator John McCains thoughts...

On gasoline prices, John McCain is more into the ideas that have been thrown out there stating that the ban that has currently been placed upon off-shore oil drilling needs to be removed. Should we as the American people, the ones actually having to pay for these insane gasoline prices, agree? Only each individual should be the one to decide for what they think. Even though some would and are in continuous protest against the ideas of off-shore oil drilling, perhaps Senator McCain is accurate in his approach to lowering the price of gas across the nation.

In John McCain's approach to the idea of the overall tax the American people are paying on almost everything these days, he responds through many different ways. A good tracking device I personally found for this was visible on his website...which says, "John McCain believes taxes should be low, simple, and fair and has a track record of commitment to these principles." It also goes onto say, "Hard-working American families need lower taxes." John McCain sees a need for the hard-workers to be cut some slack-and some taxes. I gotta say, not such a bad idea...you work hard, you get the opportunity for the rest you deserve. Fair and square.

McCain sees unemployment in this light, "Change is hard, and while most of us gain, some industries, companies and workers are forced to struggle with very difficult choices. But it is government's job to help workers get the education and training they need for the new jobs that will be created by new businesses in this new century." He, McCain, simply is after wishing that IF the American people do happen to have an issue in the midst of finding a job or perhaps fighting the status of losing one, that he or she may be well-trained in such a way that they may get back on their feet quickly and so successfully so that a job or perhaps a career even, may not be scarce in their search for one.

As for foreign trade and the housing crisis...

Foreign trade...McCain states simply, "America needs a president who can revitalize the country's purpose and standing in the world and defeat terrorist adversaries who threaten liberty at home and abroad. There is an enormous amount to do. The next U.S. president must be ready to show America and the world that this country's best days are yet to come and be ready to establish an enduring peace based on freedom." Enough said.

Housing...is it a crisis? A recent article found within the Los Angeles Times has boldly written,' “I will not play election-year politics with the housing crisis,” he said, speaking to Latino small-business owners who listened to his remarks from the factory floor at C&H Letterpress Inc. in Santa Ana. “I will evaluate everything in terms of whether it might be harmful or helpful to our effort to deal with the crisis we face now.” ' WE shall have to wait and see how this plan of McCain's will continue to unfold as time goes on. As for now, Senator John McCain is facing what he claims to be the more "important issues" at hand.

Politics. Sometimes dirty, sometimes clean. Always a fight.