Washington Post, December 1st, 2008

CHICAGO, Dec. 1 — President-elect Barack Obama Monday formally announced a national security team that is led by his onetime chief Democratic rival and includes a top member of President Bush’s Cabinet — a bipartisan group that he said shares his pragmatism and his commitment to strengthen America’s standing in the world.

In a news conference in Chicago, Obama introduced Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) as secretary of state, bringing on board the candidate who battled him for the Democratic presidential nomination during a long primary season. As America’s top diplomat, Clinton will be the face of Obama’s efforts to remake the country’s foreign policy.

Obama also announced that Bush’s defense secretary, Robert M. Gates, has agreed to remain in the job in the new administration, providing continuity while taking on what the president-elect said would be a new mission: “responsibly ending the war in Iraq through a successful transition to Iraqi control.”

As he introduced Clinton, Gates and other members of his team, Obama stressed that “in the 21st century, our destiny is shared with the world’s” and that the United States has a stake in global events regarding such matters as financial markets, public health, climate change and security from terrorism.

“And so, in this uncertain world, the time has come for a new beginning — a new dawn of American leadership to overcome the challenges of the 21st century,” Obama said. “We will strengthen our capacity to defeat our enemies and support our friends. We will renew old alliances and forge new and enduring partnerships. We will show the world once more that America is relentless in defense of our people, steady in advancing our interests, and committed to the ideals that shine as a beacon to the world: democracy and justice; opportunity and unyielding hope — because American values are America’s greatest export to the world.” More…

Offering a specific plan for education, Barack Obama pledged three goals.

A primary goal is to fund “No Child Left Behind” as originally intended, improving student assessment standards and supporting schools that need improvement. The plan is to improve education by recruiting, preparing and retaining quality teachers. Teacher Service Scholarships for recruits would cover up to four years of undergraduate study or two years at graduate school. All education colleges would have to be accredited and graduates would take a national competency examination.

Obama plans to invest in early childhood education by greatly expanding Head Start and Early Head Start programs. Providing affordable, high-quality child care would ease burdens on working families.

A plan has been announced to increase college attendance and reduce the cost of higher education through a $4,000 tax credit. It would likely cover two thirds of average tuition costs at public colleges and universities or make community colleges completely tuition free. Recipients would be required to donate community service.

The Obama-Biden plan for Energy & Environment envisions investing $150 billion to create jobs and new sources of renewable energy including wind and solar as well as clean coal and nuclear power. Specific goals are to create 5 million “Green Jobs,” to generate 10% of our electricity from renewable sources by 2012 and to further increase that target to 25% by the year 2025.

A key goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% over the next forty years and for America to join with other nations in global Climate Change initiatives. Implementing a Cap and Trade program for carbon emissions will be a first step. Industries that pollute will be required to purchase pollution credits that will be invested in developing clean energy and provide funds for federal and state land and wildlife managers to use in re-forestation and efforts to improve the environment and mitigate impact of global climate change.

There are plans to encourage automakers to build one million new plug-in hybrid cars by 2015 as well as tax credits of up to $7,000 for car buyers. The plan proposes a Windfall Profits tax and a $1,000 emergency energy rebate for families struggling with rising costs.

The plan promotes responsible development of remaining U.S. oil & gas reserves; “use it or lose it” approaches to oil & gas leases; advocates for building the Alaska natural gas pipeline; and investment in clean coal technologies. It cracks down on loopholes in CFTC trading rules for energy speculation.

Obama has plans for Defense, Foreign Policy and the War on Terror.

In the area of Foreign Policy, the main goals are to secure loose nuclear materials from terrorists; pursue tough, direct diplomacy with Iran; and renew the role of diplomacy to meet the needs of the 21st Century.

His chief Defense objectives are to rebuild our armed forces to meet current challenges; restore the readiness of the National Guard and Reserves; and to engage with our allies to jointly deal with common security issues.

Obama has repeatedly promised to end the war in Iraq responsibly. He has promised diplomatic efforts to encourage stability in the Middle East. In addition he promises that America will find and defeat al Qaeda, position our military to meet new threats and increase efforts in Afghanistan to find Osama bin Laden.

Obama discusses immediate plans for economic recovery.

The Health Care plan is to strengthen the mandate for employer based health care insurance and make insurance companies accountable for fair coverage. It ensures patient choice of doctor and care without government interference. It also ensures that patients will be able to make health care decisions with their doctors, instead of being blocked by insurance company bureaucrats.

The primary goals are:
• Make health insurance affordable and accessible to all
• Lower current health care costs
• Promote public health

Here are some plan specifics:
• Require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions
• Create a Small Business Health Insurance Tax Credit
• Establish National Health Insurance Exchange with a range of plans available for individuals and small businesses
• Create re-insurance coverage for catastrophic illnesses
• Lower drug costs to allow safe imports and change regulations relating to generics
• Mandated coverage for children
• Require hospitals to report health care cost and quality data, mandate electronic health records to reduce duplicated services

Barack Obama believes that for too long we have used immigration as a wedge issue to divide us rather than fixing what must be repaired. The four primary goals of his immigration plan are:

Create Secure Borders: Protect the integrity of our borders. Support additional personnel, infrastructure and technology on the border and at our ports of entry.

Improve Our Immigration System: Fix the dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy and increase the number of legal immigrants to keep families together and meet the demand for jobs that employers cannot fill.

Remove Incentives to Enter Illegally: Remove incentives to enter the country illegally by cracking down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants.

Bring People Out of the Shadows: Support a system that allows undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens.

Work with Mexico: Promote economic development in Mexico to decrease illegal immigration.

Our country faces its most serious economic crisis since the great depression. Working families, who saw their incomes decline by $2,000 in the economic “expansion” from 2000 to 2007, now face even deeper income losses. Retirement savings accounts have lost $2 trillion. Markets have fallen 40% in less than a year. Millions of homeowners who played by the rules can’t meet their mortgage payments and face foreclosure as the value of their homes have plummeted. With credit markets nearly frozen, businesses large and small cannot access the credit they need to meet payroll and create jobs.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden have a plan to revitalize the economy.

1. Immediate Action to Create Good Jobs in America
2. Immediate Relief for Struggling Families
3. Direct, Immediate Assistance for Homeowners, Not a Bailout for Irresponsible Mortgage Lenders
4. A Rapid, Aggressive Response to Our Financial Crisis, Using All the Tools We Have

Washington Post, December 7th, 2008

On the heels of more grim unemployment news, President-elect Barack Obama yesterday offered the first glimpse of what would be the largest public works program since President Dwight D. Eisenhower created the federal interstate system in the 1950s.

Obama said the massive government spending program he proposes to lift the country out of economic recession will include a renewed effort to make public buildings energy-efficient, rebuild the nation’s highways, renovate aging schools and install computers in classrooms, extend high-speed Internet to underserved areas and modernize hospitals by giving them access to electronic medical records.  More…