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THE JOURNAL OF STEFFANIE RIVERS: Who’s On First?
*In the heat of a political election it can be hard to remember why you favor one candidate over another. It’s like taking a handful of vitamins every morning: You forget which pill does what. All you remember is it was a good idea at the time.
Democrats and Republicans will hold their party conventions this week and next, to mark the official kickoff of the presidential general election campaign. Even though Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama announced Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden as his vice president running mate, creating a symmetrical political portrait, it takes more than a pretty picture to win an election.
Before you know what you want in a president, it’s just as important to know what you don’t want. Do his plans for your family match your plans for your family? As leader of the free world, the president will be the decider of a number of issues that could affect future generations.
If you agreed with President George W. Bush’s decisions ninety percent of the time you probably would want to support McCain for president. Since 2000 McCain has voted with the Bush agenda at least 90 percent of the time. That would make you 100 percent satisfied with McCain.
This 71-year-old (his birthday is Friday the 29th), six-term elected official with his pension and wealthy family ties has been against the protection of the Social Security program probably because he won’t have to worry about actually living off his. Maybe that’s why he’s also against union rights, workers rights and a health care program that covers every American.
For sure that’s why the AFL-CIO is against him. Some other need-to-know facts about the McCain agenda:
If he had his way health benefits provided by employers would be part of taxable income instead of the current pre-taxed income.
He voted for a national right to work-for-less law that would make it acceptable for states not to adhere to national labor standards in a number of areas including hiring practices and the minimum wage.
In 2003 McCain voted to take social security money to pay off federal debt.
Not only has McCain spoken against employee unions and strikes against unfair labor practices, he supported a bill that could allow employees to hire permanent replacements if they do strike.
McCain is not above taking what appears to be campaign bribes. After some of his campaign advisors lobbied for a particular company to get U.S. military contracts his campaign received nearly $30,000 in contributions from that company’s executives and employees a short time later.
With so much money at stake McCain told the Boston Globe “The issue of economics is something I’ve really never understood as well as I should,” yet he’s worth $40.4 million. And if you ask him how many houses he owns, he’ll have to get back to you on that.
Obama and his new running mate don’t have all the answers, but I like their responses a lot better than I do McCain’s.
Steffanie Rivers is a free-lance journalist living in Dallas, Texas. For public speaking inquiries, comments or questions email her at teamtcbadvertising@hotmail.com.
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