After eight years of Bush, America needs a progressive president now more than ever. Although Barack Obama may be more moderate than we at Young Democrats would prefer, he nevertheless is the superior candidate when presented with the alternative.

Barack Obama seeks to enhance and improve health care. He wishes to offer insurance bearing semblance to that which senators receive without the possibility of rejection, regardless of health history. Voters ought to be reminded of the recent success of governmentally-mandated health coverage requirements within the Commonwealth: this legislation has yielded a reduction of 75% in the number of uninsured citizens.

John McCain, however, fails to understand that health maintenance organizations and insurers in general contradict a fundamental postulate of economics. While most firms generate revenues by manufacturing products or providing services, insurance providers succeed by failing to furnish services; that is, these commercial enterprises perform most efficiently when they maximize claim rejection while minimizing litigious repercussion. An introduction of greater competition, which McCain opines to be the panacea of our plague, simply does not result in improved coverage because the payout of claims and the retention of profits are related inversely.



McCain also wishes to extend Bush’s tax cuts past their specified dates of expiry. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research institute, the net effect of the Bush tax cuts, if continued, would be $4.4 trillion over the period from 2009 to 2018. In light of a 68% increase in the national debt since Bush’s inauguration (to over $9.6 trillion) and a projected $438 billion deficit for fiscal year 2009, such an action would be extremely financially irresponsible. Considering John McCain’s inability to present a plan to balance the budget books and his own alarming statement from January of this year, “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should,” one is compelled to question the qualifications of such a person to wield the keys of the American trove.



Barack Obama also believes the War in Iraq is flawed and not the proper way to go about ending terrorism. Unlike McCain, he wants to get the troops out and is opposed to the creation of permanent bases in Iraq. He feels that this is not only a waste of money, with $10 billion dollars a month currently going to Iraq, but that this is fundamentally the wrong way to end terrorism. Fighting a war with an ambiguous enemy is only going to increase hostilities and fuel on extremists. Instead we should work diplomatically, as has worked in the past, and spend our money fighting domestic problems and improving our security at home. Finally, Obama believes the US must give humanitarian aid to displaced Iraqis. Over the course of the war, roughly 4.2 million Iraqis have become refugees. Helping them is not only our nation’s responsibility morally, but it is also one of the best ways to restore our image abroad and prevent the animosity that often leads to terrorism.