John McCain did a good job debating
last night. Barrack Obama did better. Senator McCain was able to show
how very much he cares about this country in very broad terms while
Senator Obama was much more detailed in his answers. And if keeping
your cool has anything to do with it, Obama wins every time. As
expected, Senator McCain provided solid answers relative to the
military and foreign policy questions.
One of the most interesting exchanges
from my point of view dealt with the prioritization of spending.
Moderator, Tom Brokaw asked the candidates to prioritize health,
energy, and entitlements. This was a question that I'd been hoping to
hear. Senator McCain said simply that we can do all three. From my
perspective, this was big time evasion. Senator Obama, who had the
advantage of answering last in this instance, gave his priorities and
his reasoning behind them. Frankly, Senator Obama really surprised me here.
Brokaw: We've run out of time. We have this one-minute
discussion period going on here.
There are new economic realities out there that everyone in this
hall and across this country understands that there are going to have
to be some choices made. Health policies, energy policies, and
entitlement reform, what are going to be your priorities in what
order? Which of those will be your highest priority your first year
in office and which will follow in sequence?
Sen. McCain?
McCain: The three priorities were health...
Brokaw: The three -- health care, energy, and entitlement
reform: Social Security and Medicare. In what order would you put
them in terms of priorities?
McCain: I think you can work on all three at once, Tom. I
think it's very important that reform our entitlement programs.
My friends, we are not going to be able to provide the same
benefit for present-day workers that we are going -- that present-day
retirees have today. We're going to have to sit down across the
table, Republican and Democrat, as we did in 1983 between Ronald
Reagan and Tip O'Neill.
I know how to do that. I have a clear record of reaching across
the aisle, whether it be Joe Lieberman or Russ Feingold or Ted
Kennedy or others. That's my clear record.
We can work on nuclear power plants. Build a whole bunch of them,
create millions of new jobs. We have to have all of the above,
alternative fuels, wind, tide, solar, natural gas, clean coal
technology. All of these things we can do as Americans and we can
take on this mission and we can overcome it.
My friends, some of this $700 billion ends up in the hands of
terrorist organizations.
As far as health care is concerned, obviously, everyone is
struggling to make sure that they can afford their premiums and that
they can have affordable and available health care. That's the next
issue.
But we can do them all at once. There's no -- and we have to do
them all at once. All three you mentioned are compelling national
security requirements.
Brokaw: I'm trying to play by the rules that you all
established. One minute for discussion.
Sen. Obama, if you would give us your list of priorities, there
are some real questions about whether everything can be done at once.
Obama: We're going to have to prioritize, just like a
family has to prioritize. Now, I've listed the things that I think
have to be at the top of the list.
Energy we have to deal with today, because you're paying $3.80
here in Nashville for gasoline, and it could go up. And it's a strain
on your family budget, but it's also bad for our national security,
because countries like Russia and Venezuela and, you know, in some
cases, countries like Iran, are benefiting from higher oil prices.
So we've got to deal with that right away. That's why I've called
for an investment of $15 billion a year over 10 years. Our goal
should be, in 10 year's time, we are free of dependence on Middle
Eastern oil.
And we can do it. Now, when JFK said we're going to the Moon in 10
years, nobody was sure how to do it, but we understood that, if the
American people make a decision to do something, it gets done. So
that would be priority number one.
Health care is priority number two, because that broken health
care system is bad not only for families, but it's making our
businesses less competitive.
And, number three, we've got to deal with education so that our
young people are competitive in a global economy.
But just one point I want to make, Tom. Sen. McCain mentioned
looking at our records. We do need to look at our records.
Sen. McCain likes to talk about earmarks a lot. And that's
important. I want to go line by line through every item in the
federal budget and eliminate programs that don't work and make sure
that those that do work, work better and cheaper.
But understand this: We also have to look at where some of our tax
revenues are going. So when Sen. McCain proposes a $300 billion tax
cut, a continuation not only of the Bush tax cuts, but an additional
$200 billion that he's going to give to big corporations, including
big oil companies, $4 billion worth, that's money out of the system.
And so we've got to prioritize both our spending side and our tax
policies to make sure that they're working for you. That's what I'm
going to do as president of the United States.
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