Iraq-

McCain doesn’t want our troops in Iraq “a minute longer than necessary to secure our interests there.” He believes that international pressure should be put on Syria and Iran, who have been aiding and abiding violence in Iraq. McCain would like to better establish the Iraqi economy and believes it is essential in order for Iraq to sustain security gains. He plans on continuing, what he feels is, the successful counterinsurgency strategy that began in 2007. He thinks that a plan to immediately start to withdraw troops, like that of the plan in 2006, would fail. McCain thinks that more progress is necessary in order for the government of Iraq to properly serve its people.



Obama believes “we must be as careful getting out of the war as we were careless getting in.” He plans to take action immediately after taking office by giving his Secretary of Defense and military commanders a new mission: one to get out of Iraq. Obama believes that troops should be gradually taken out of Iraq, one to two brigades a month, until all troops are out of Iraq. He predicts it will take sixteen months, until the summer of 2010. Obama and Biden think that any Status of Forces Agreement should be negotiated in the context of a broader commitment by the U.S. to withdraw its troops and by foreswearing permanent bases.

Environment and Energy-

McCain plans to promote and expend the use of domestic natural gas. He believes that the 77 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas in the Outer Continental Shelf should be used and capitalized. McCain would like to construct 45 new nuclear power plants by the year 2030. Like Obama, McCain wants to create “green” jobs in the United States. McCain wishes to annually commit $2 billion to advances in clean coal technologies. He also plans on strongly promoting energy efficiency.

Obama plans to provide a $1,000 Energy Emergency Rebate to American families. He hopes to eliminate our country’s current oil imports from the Middle East and Venezuela within ten years. He also would like to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, create millions of new green jobs, and encourage hybrid cars. Obama wants to ensure that 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012.



Economy-

McCain believes that the tax code should be less of a burden for people trying to raise families. He plans to raise the personal exemption from $3,500 to $7,000. He would like Medicare to grow and believes that the program shouldn’t subsidize prescription drugs for America’s most affluent individuals. McCain wants to encourage the 50 governors and the federal government to anticipate and accommodate how the current credit crunch will affect college students applying for loans.

Obama wants to provide a $50 billion jump start to the economy. He plans to give working families tax cuts by creating a new “Making Work Pay” tax credit of up to $500 a person/$1,000 per working family. He also would like to eliminate income taxes for seniors making less than $50,000 a year. Obama is determined to make filing for taxes easier on middle-class families by having the IRS use the information it already has to give taxpayers the option of receiving pre-filled tax forms to verify, sign, and return. This plan will eliminate the hours of work and aggravation of filing for taxes, as well as the tax preparer fees.

Education-

McCain plans to build on the No Child Left Behind Act that the Bush administration started. McCain wants to devote five percent of Title II funding to recruiting teachers that have graduated in the top 25 percent of their class, or who participate in additional alternative teaching requirement programs. One of his education goals is to better equip and educate teachers and principals about current technologies. McCain wants to ensure that children who are struggling to meet state standards have immediate access to high quality tutoring programs.

Obama believes that the goal of the No Child Left Behind Act was the right one, but failed because of insufficient funding. He wants to reform the plan and help schools that need improvement instead of punishing them. Obama has created, what he calls, the Zero To Five plan. The goal of the plan is to better prepare infants and toddlers for kindergarten. He plans on expanding the opportunities for people to attend college by making the financial aid application process easier and by creating the American Opportunity Tax Credit system.