Obama Weekly Points, WSU Student Senate
September 10th, 2007 11:27 pm by Ian G.Well it sure has been a hectic couple weeks with school starting up and with my new Student Senate responsibilities kicking in. This year has gone well so far and I can only see it getting better with time. It sure was great to see DJ last weekend in Winona, making his first visit to the Student Senate as an alumni. Without further adu, here are the Obama weekly points…
Challenging Conventional Thinking in Washington
Barack Obama belivees that what’s stopped us from meeting our challenges isn’t a lack of good ideas; it’s a politics that puts the partisan and special interests ahead of the people’s interests. Too many in Washington see politics as a game, instead of a mission. That’s why Barack Obama believes this election cannot be about who can play this game better. It has to be about who can put an end to the game-playing. Barack Obama is the one candidate with the judgment to challenge conventional thinking in Washington and bring about fundamental change in this country.
Iraq
Barack Obama opposed the Iraq war from the start – at a time when it was unpopular to do so. He believes this war should never have been authorized and never been waged. He introduced a plan back in January that would have gradually and responsibly removed all combat troops from Iraq. He’s kept the pressure on the Republican Senators and Congressmen who continue to support the President’s failed course. Now he’s calling for an immediate end to the surge that begins to bring our troops home. If we don’t end the war before George Bush leaves office, then it will be the first thing Barack Obama does as President.
Health Care
Over the last decade, the drug and insurance industries spent $1 billion in lobbying. And their friends in Congress made it illegal for our government to negotiate with the drug companies for cheaper drug prices. As President, Barack Obama will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of his first term that will cover every American, cut the cost of a typical family’s premiums by up to $2,500 a year, make sure that if you lose your job, you don’t lose your health care, too, and make it legal to negotiate with the drug companies for cheaper drugs.
The Experience America Needs
The pundits say Barack Obama lacks experience because to them, only the years you spend in Washington count. But Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld had two of the longest resumes in Washington and they got us into the worst foreign policy fiasco in recent history. So time served doesn’t mean sound judgment. Barack Obama may not have the experience Washington likes; but he has the experience America needs.
Barack Obama’s experience tells him that real change comes not by dividing, but by bringing people together to get things done – like when he worked with police officers and civil rights advocates to reform a death penalty system that had sent thirteen innocent people in Illinois to death row. Or when he worked with Republicans and Democrats to expand health care for 150,000 Illinoisans, or put $100 million worth of tax cuts in the pockets of working families.
Barack Obama’s experience tells him that real change comes when we put the people’s interests before the special interests and partisan interests. That’s what he did in Illinois when he took on money in politics and passed the first major ethics reform in twenty-five years, and in Congress when he challenged both parties and pushed through a landmark ethics law – and for the first time in history forced Washington lobbyists to disclose who they’re raising money from and who in Congress they’re funneling it to.
Univision Debate
This debate was an opportunity for the Hispanic community to learn more about Barack Obama’s record of standing up for comprehensive immigration reform, fighting against health care disparities, and challenging the failed policies of the last seven years. The Hispanic community is just getting to know Barack Obama and what we are seeing in places like Florida, Nevada and California is the more people get to know him, the more they believe he is the right leader to bring the change this country needs.
Barack Obama Schedule:
Senator Obama was in Las Vegas last Thursday for a town hall meeting at the Doolittle Community Center before going to San Francisco on Friday for the California Women for Obama kick off luncheon. Friday evening Senator Obama kicked off the campaign’s “Countdown to Change” program in Portland, OR that promotes supporters to host house parties on September 15th to help the campaign in the early states. On Saturday, Obama was in Santa Barbara, CA for a grassroots rally before heading to Miami on Sunday for the first ever Univision Democratic Presidential Candidates Forum.
Senator Obama will be in Clinton, IA on Wednesday morning to deliver a policy speech at Ashford University. He will be holding multiple town hall meetings across Iowa on Wednesday and Thursday in Davenport, Maquoketa, Anamosa and Dubuque.