The Candidates on the Issues

Where Do the Candidates Stand?

On Foreclosure

Barack Obama: "It is important to make sure that we're not helping out the speculators, but instead are helping out the homeowners who are actually living in their homes, who have the capacity to make the payments if they're not seeing a huge increase in their mortgage payments… We have a history in this country of preying on low-income peoples because they don't have access to banks... We've got to open up bank branches… Part of the reason that they are borrowing on their homes, they're borrowing on credit cards, is that the banks and financial institutions have dominated policy in Washington."
Source: www.ontheissues.org;
(2008 Congressional Black Caucus Democratic debate Jan 21, 2008)

John McCain: “The key to it is not to bail out people who speculated or people who engaged in unsavory practices. The key to it is get the lender and the borrower together. We know how hard that is because of identifying the lender, but there's ways to do it. Of course there's a role for government, but it's not to reward greedy speculators…”
Source: www.ontheissues.org;
(Fox News Sunday: 2008 "Choosing the President" interviews Apr 6, 2008)

On Patriotism

Barack Obama: "I remember, when living for four years in Indonesia as a child, I listened to my mother reading me the first lines of the Declaration of Independence… I remember her explaining how this declaration applied to every American, black and white and brown alike; how those words, and words of the United States Constitution, protected us from the injustices that we witnessed other people suffering during those years abroad. That's my idea of America."
Source: weblogs.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/blog/2008/06/
obama_talks_patriotism_in_inde.html;
(posted by John McCormick 6/30/08)

John McCain: “The patriot must not just accept, but in his or her own way protect the ideals that gave birth to our country: to stand against injustice and for the rights of all and not just one's own interests. The patriot honors the duties, the loyalties, the inspirations and the habits of mind that bind us together as Americans.”
Source: www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1818037,00.html;
(Wednesday, Jun. 25, 2008)

On Immigration

Barack Obama: "It is important that we fix the legal immigration system… right now we've got a backlog that means years for people to apply legally. What's worse is, we keep on increasing the fees…if you've got a hard working immigrant family, they've got to hire a lawyer; they've got to pay thousands of dollars in fees. They just can't afford it. It's discriminatory against people who have good character, but don't have the money. We’ve got to fix that."
Source: www.ontheissues.org/2008/Barack_Obama_Immigration.htm;
(2008 Democratic debate at University of Texas in Austin Feb 21, 2008)

John McCain: “As president, I will secure the border. I will restore the trust Americans should have in the basic competency of their government. A secure border is an essential element of our national security. Tight border security includes not just the entry and exit of people, but also the effective screening of cargo at our ports and other points of entry.”
Source: www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/68db8157-d301-4e22-baf7-
a70dd8416efa.htm?sid=google&t=immigration;
(Official McCain campaign site)

On Health Care

Barack Obama: "When I am president, I will sign a universal health care law by the end of my first term. My plan will cover the uninsured by letting people buy into the same kind of health care plan that members of Congress give themselves. It will bring down costs by investing in information technology, and preventative care, and by stopping the drug companies from price-gouging when patients need their medicine. It will help business and families shoulder the burden of catastrophic care so that an illness doesn't lead to a bankruptcy. And it will save the average family a thousand dollars a year on their premiums. We can do this."
Source: www. factcheck.barackobama.com (Obama Speech, 5/2/07)

John McCain: “It is simply disgraceful that 43 million Americans can not afford health care coverage. We must expand medical savings accounts, offer flexible savings accounts, provide full tax deductibility for self-employed health insurance costs, and allow tax deductibility for long-term care expenses. We should provide more funding for our nation’s community health centers, which have instituted a sliding fee schedule which allows people to contribute what they can afford and still receive health benefits.”
Source: www.ontheissues.org/2008/John_McCain_Health_Care.htm (Senate statement: “Health Care Reform” Jul 15, 1999)

On Iraq

Barack Obama: "The time for waiting in Iraq is over. It is time to change our policy…It is time to give Iraqis their country back, and it is time to refocus America's efforts on the wider struggle yet to be won.”
Source: www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/20/obama.iraq/index.html (Speech to Chicago Council on Global Affairs; 11/20/06)

John McCain: “The first and most important and vital element is to continue this surge which is succeeding and we are winning the war in Iraq. Secondly, I would make sure that we do what we can to help reconstruct the country, to help the Maliki government move forward as rapidly as possible to train the police.”
Source: www.ontheissues.org/International/John_McCain_War_+_Peace.htm (2007 GOP YouTube debate in St. Petersburg, Florida Nov 28, 2007)

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