“Every generation needs a new revolution.” Although Thomas Jefferson spoke these words over 200 years ago, he could have been talking about the 2008 presidential election. With less than a month left before the election, America is in its worst shape in recent memory. The economy is crumbling, we’re stuck in an unnecessary war that has cost us thousands of lives and hundred of billions of dollars, and our civil liberties have been shredded by eight years of executive power run amok. These conditions all point to one thing: the time for our revolution, a revolution of rebuilding America and moving away from the failed policies and ideology of the past eight years, has come. For this reason, the Voice editorial board endorses Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for President of the United States.
The financial crisis, America’s worst since the Great Depression, has demonstrated how vital it is for the next president to abandon Bush’s disastrous policies and address the root causes of America’s problems. Obama has pledged to end the era of financial deregulation which caused the current crisis and which Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) favored up until a week or two ago. The tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans pioneered by Bush and supported by McCain would be left in the dust by an Obama administration as well. Instead of trickle-down economic policies which favor the wealthy, Obama supports a bottom-up approach, and has a tax plan that offers relief to those who need it most—the hard-hit middle class.
On health care—a critical issue for college students about to enter the workforce as well as the 47 million Americans without health insurance—the difference between the candidates is similarly stark. Obama sees health care as a right for all Americans and wants to expand both affordability and availability. His plan, though it unfortunately falls short of universal coverage, prohibits insurance companies from discriminating based on pre-existing conditions and gives Americans the option of signing onto the health plan available to members of Congress. McCain, on the other hand, believes health care to be each American’s singular responsibility and relies upon a free-market approach that would effectively gut employer-based health care in favor of more expensive individual plans. His plan, which taxes health benefits while handing out inadequate $5,000 tax credits, is even opposed by normally pro-Republican groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Obama’s victory would, above all, improve America’s foreign policy and image abroad. His plan for a phased withdrawal of troops from Iraq beginning in the summer of 2010 has even been endorsed by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. Even Bush seems to support it, leaving McCain largely alone in his aversion to timetables and insistence on the nebulous concept of “victory.” Obama also emphasizes diplomacy and dialogue with foreign governments, in contrast to Bush’s ineffective bullying tactics or McCain’s blustering and stubborn stances.
The list could go on and on. On every significant issues—energy policy, judicial philosophy, abortion, the environment, and education—Obama offers a vision to rebuild what has been broken over the last years and promises to lead America into the twenty-first century. The 2008 election may be one of our nation’s most significant ever, but that doesn’t mean the choice is difficult. When you vote on November 4 or fill out your absentee ballot in the next week or two, vote against a continuation of the policies that got us into the mess we’re in now. Vote for restoring the American dream. Vote for Barack Obama.
