Barack Obama: A Lesson on In-Depth Issues

If Barack Obama loses his bid for the Presidency it will not be for a lack of information on his website. Of the previous candidates that I have looked at over the past month, Obama sets the bar very high in regards to the information that is provided and the depth of information that has been provided. Does this help or hurt him? Well, once we break down each issue to see if there is enough information to sway voters, then we can decide whether or not this plethora of information is a good or bad thing. What I have noticed from Obama is the hype that he has gotten over the past few years. This is a guy who is dynamic. You know you are a star if you speak at the Democratic National Convention as a State Senator from Illinois that is campaigning for the Senate. If Hillary Clinton was not running, Obama would be a shoe-in for the nomination. As it is, he is in a tight fight with Hillary right now.

Basically, Obama has 13 major issues. Now, when I say major issues, it also means widespread. A lot of his issues encompass a lot of topics and are discussed in great detail on his website or he has available to download from his website. So, this is going to probably be the first of 3 or 4 articles that I plan on writing. Is this because I want more press for Obama? No. It only means that there is a lot of information that I want to get through and I want to get it up as soon as I can because the primaries are starting way too soon.

I decided to put the issues in alphabetical order so as to have some semblance of order to the discussion. Each major topic area will begin by being Underlined and bolded and each sub-point under that area will only be bolded. Any major sub-points beyond this will only be underlined. This is how much information he has out there, lets see if it's all rhetoric or if he actually has some good plans.

Education

Here Obama states that he is committed to strengthening our schools and talks about how politicians focus too much on accountability and not enough funding. He states that we need to have accountability and provide them funding.

Preschool

Here Obama states that many low-income students are behind their peers when to enter kindergarten and it continues throughout elementary school. He states that he supports increasing funding for the Head Start programs. Not much of a plan, and will it solve the problem? What about cities that don't have Head Start? What about areas that just don't have the staff or structure for it? I would like to see more information on this than just increased funding.

Elementary, Middle and High Schools

Obama begins by stating that he "introduced a plan to support school districts that implement innovative methods to improve student learning." He states that under this initiative 20 school districts will get grants that can help them improve teachers. While this is a good start, I feel that to truly improve the quality of teachers we need to do a lot more, but that is another topic for another day. He also states that we need to pay teachers more. While this is a great goal, I'm not sure how he would do that. I guess he could advocate more national funding for schools directly for the increased in pay for teachers, but other than that, this is more of a local and state issue than national. I'm glad he's advocating it and it helps to use the bully pulpit, but again, not much he can do there. He also wants to reform and fund NCLB. He states (and justifiably so) that NCLB needs to be reformed, but he never says how. How are we going to reform it? What areas are going to be changed? I would like to see more specifics here as well. I'm glad he wants to fund it more and reform it, but what those reforms are I would like to know more about.

I do like his next idea on changing the teacher prep courses that are out there. He states that someone who has a degree in a subject should avoid some of the unnecessary classes and get into the classroom under the tutelage of an experienced teacher much like a doctor has a residency to learn, so should teachers. This is a great idea and I hope he pushes for those type of plans. I'm glad to see that he has a specific plan here and has proposed it in the Senate.

His next idea on giving more access to AP courses is a good idea, but needs some work. He states that he proposed a plan that would give grants to students who didn't have access to AP courses for college credit at local or community colleges. While this idea has merit, I think more focus needs to be on ensuring that each school has access to AP courses.

Higher Education

His first area that he talks about is increasing Federal Pell Grants. This is a good idea and he has introduced such bills in the Senate and even has a way to pay for it. You don't see that type of talk out of most politicians. Most of the time they don't talk in specifics (like Obama does with a specific number) or how they would pay for it. This is a great first step. He then focuses on getting more loans to students through the Student Debt Relief Act, which frees up more Direct Loan money to students. Once again, a good idea and he has specific legislation that he has backed and would continue to push.

Overall

For the most part, Obama has some good ideas and has some specific ideas and instances where he has supported and will continue to support various ideas. He needs to work on having more specifics in regards to teacher pay on how he would reform NCLB, but beyond that, this is a good first step.

Environmental Concerns

Obama begins by discussing the problems that we are facing regarding the environment including: global warming, melting glaciers, shrinking polar ice caps, oceans becoming acidic, threatened marine life, heat waves and species dying out. There are a lot of problems out there and Obama states that it is only going to get worse unless we do something about it. He breaks down his plan into a variety of key areas:

1. Implement a 100% Auction Cap-And-Trade Program to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Obama spends a lot of time discussing why the cap and trade program is more effective than a carbon tax and that it will decrease carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. Basically, the auction forces polluters to pay for every ton of emissions that they release instead of the method of 'buying credit.' He states that he will use the revenue from this auction to invest in the development of clean energy sources and gives examples of those programs. Overall, this seems like a pretty specific idea and one that has been detailed quite well.

2. Invest in a Clean Energy Economy and Create American Jobs

This is a little bit of a continuation from the first point, because he will also use some of the money from the auction to develop alternative energies. This investment will push the commercialization of hybrids, low emission coal plans, a new digital electrical grid and better renewable energy. He then spends time to discuss how this investment will be distributed, including:

Increase Investments in Basic Research and Human Capital -- which is basically the foundation that we will build upon and invest in worker training in these technological fields to develop a greater workforce. He also talks about developing programs to provide youth with high-growth job opportunities.
Invest in Key Technology Development -- Here he breaks this down even further in discussing advancing biofuels including cellulosic ethanol as well as advanced biodiesel. He also wants to expand locally-owned biofuel refineries. I love this idea because refineries are key to keeping energy prices low as well as keeping money in the pockets of local businesses. He also advocates developing clean coal technology and nuclear power. With the nuclear power issue, he wants to ensure that several areas are resolved before expanding that source of fuel including: "public right-to-know, security of nuclear fuel and wast, wast storage, and proliferation." All of these areas that he discusses, he has a lot of specific ideas and plans on how he would achieve these plans. While a lot of it seems pretty ambitious, he at least has a more detailed plan on how to achieve it than his opponents have had so far.

3. Invest in Key Technology Development

Here Obama states that he will create a "Clean Technologies Deployment Venture Capital Fund" that will be used in increase our technology development. The one thing I like about this idea is that it will use this money to give to private and public companies who are trying to develop new technologies. Instead of focusing on the government solving our problems, Obama realizes that it is important to include the private sector, which his a great idea. He also wants to extend the federal Production Tax Credit for 5 more years that targets renewable energy. Finally, he talks about converting our manufacturing centers into the leaders of clean technology. This is the only area that he doesn't give many specifics as to how he would convert our manufacturing centers however.

4. Set Standards to Allow the Market to Invest and Innovate

Looking at that statement is all well and good, but lets see if he provides any specifics on these so called standards. While I was skeptical at first because I've read too many times how politicians say we need to do something, but don't offer any specifics whatsoever, I was pleasantly surprised by Obama. He actually has specific time-lines and percentages on the standards that he would set, including requiring that 25% of our energy come from renewable sources by 2025. This is a nice change to see a politician not just talk in generalities, but in specific numbers.

5. Invest in the fastest, cheapest way to reduce emissions: energy efficiency

Basically, Obama states that we need to be more efficient with our energy and says that he would set a goal of reducing our energy intensity by 50% by 2030. To do this, he states that he would make all new federal buildings are zero-emissions by 2025 and has specific goals to achieve them by certain dates, setting building efficiency goals, increasing incentives for utilities, phasing out inefficient light bulbs and investing in a smart grid. I could expand on this a lot, because he includes a great deal of information on each topic and has a lot of specific goals and ideas for each.

6. Strengthen Our Oil Security and Energy Independence

Basically on this topic, Obama talks about how we have been reliant upon countries that are hostile to us for our energy needs, and he wants to decrease that by at least 35% by 2030. His plan for this includes increasing fuel economy standards that doesn't bankrupt automakers. He also wants to invest in developing more advanced vehicles by giving federal funds to companies that develop cars such as the plug-in hybrids that get over 250 miles per gallon. He continues by investing in the biofuel infrastructure and distribution by giving tax credits to companies who install E85 pumps as well as other biofules. While all of these areas are great and he is pretty specific in his plans, his final ares is pretty interesting in that he wants to reform the federal transportation funding, require states to plan for energy conservation instead of telling them to "consider it" and give tax breaks to companies who provide incentives for public transits. All of these ideas are excellent and he is very specific on with his plans for each area.

7. Make the US a Leader in combating Climate Change Around the World

Obama begins by discussing how America has historically been the largest contributor to greenhouse gases and that it needs to change. To do this, he will re-engage the world community with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, create a new forum (much like the G8 summits regarding the world economy) with the largest greenhouse gas emitters to develop plans and courses of action to decrease our polluting ways. He says he also wants to transfer our technology to the developing world to help fight climate change and work with countries to ensure they protect themselves from volatile oil markets as well as confronting deforestation by offering incentives to countries to maintain their forests. For the most part, Obama has once again giving very good specific ideas on what he wants to accomplish with some rhetoric throughout.

8. Clean Air and Clean Water and Healthier Communities

Obama talks here about how Bush has ignored the Clean Air Act and how he will restore the strength of that act when he is President. He doesn't explain how he will do this, which would be nice to see. Regarding clean water, he talks about how he will establish policies that will protect lakes and rivers and help high-growth regions deal with managing their water. Again, no specifics here on what those policies would be, and this is needed if we are to believe him. He then spends time talking about regulating large farm operations that have become the norm in America. Basically, he wants to set tough pollution limits on livestock operations and is opposed to Bush's policy on exempting large industrial livestock companies from the Clean Air Act and Superfund. This is a good plan and is fairly specific, but I would still like to see more specifics regarding this topic. Obama then discusses the risks of mercury pollution and lead poisoning. The dangers of both of these are discussed, and his plan to fight them include two pieces of legislation that he introduced in congress to fight mercury in our water and the introduction of the Lead-Free Toys Act that would require the Consumer Product Safety Commission to ban all toys that are found to have lead in them. With the outbreak of toys coming from China with Lead, this is probably a good idea. Finally he discusses the Superfund Sites and how we need to focus our attention more on oversight of those sites that the EPA is cleaning up.

9. Preserving our Forests and other National Treasures

Here, Obama discusses how he will fight efforts to drill in ANWR and he voted against using funds to build new roads in the Tongass national Forest in Alaska. Obama also states that he will restore $2 Billion in cuts to conservation programs and will increase funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Overall

To say that there is a lot of information under this topic is an understatement. What I really liked was the in-depth detail of plans that he has. Most candidates just say that we need to stop our reliance upon foreign oil and that they will support the development of alternative energy. But Obama doesn't just go a step further, the takes a triple-jump past the rest by detailing what he would do in several key areas. If you want specifics Obama has it. If you agree with him on his rhetoric on the environment, you are going to also like the fact that he isn't just talking, but has a plan of action. One thing that I also liked is that he isn't just talking about what the government needs to do, but giving assistance to the private sector so they can be leaders in the development of alternative technologies.

Continued...

Even though I have only covered 2 out of the 13 topics, I am going to end this article here because of the depth and breadth of the Education and Environment topics. All topics are not covered in such depth, but the next topic deals with Foreign Policy, which also gets quite lengthy. Stay tuned for the next installment.