First Draft

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Alex Fiore

Persuasive Writing

Professor Varner

29 October 2008

The Opportunity for Change That We Cannot Afford to Dismiss

            Just days away, the upcoming election offers to very opposite candidates.  On one side we have a 72-year old white, highly conservative, Republican, and on the other, a 47-year old biracial Democratic liberal.  Unfortunately these characteristics alone have been deciding factors for some people on both sides of the vote.  This is a huge factor because it not only controls a large number of votes, but also has never been a factor in a presidential election.  In a time where there is very little support of the current country direction, a question is raised: With race being a variable for the first time in a presidential election, are the issues and credentials being overlooked due to racial bigotry?  An argument can be made that this question is correct considering how Republican candidate John McCain has voted over 90% of the time with the current president, George W. Bush, and the regressive direction he is leading our country.  This is why, in the upcoming election, Americans need to ignore the racial characteristics, and vote for the plans of the Democrat candidate, Barack Obama, to change America’s downward direction instead of what is essentially, if not worse than, George W. Bush’s third term.

            As much as most voters deny that race is a factor to them in election, it is still believed to be the underlying basis of the vague rational McCain-supporting Democrats

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have given the media.  This theory is presented and analyzed in an article by Alex Spillius, using Teresa Burt, a Democratic voter for all of her life, as an example.  When asked why she has will not vote Democratic for the first time in her life, Burt responded, “I just don't trust him on certain things. He is just not who I want to run this country.  If I vote, it will be McCain. And I know a lot of Democrats who won't vote for Obama too.”  Jeanette Langford, a volunteer at Obama headquarters in Ohio, offers her own two cents in response, “Some people are openly racist, they use the N-word, they are very clear they don't want to see a black man in the White House.  Others aren’t even aware that race is what’s holding them back from supporting Barack. But what else is it? They never mention issues, it's always things like ‘I can't trust him’, or ‘he is not the right leader for me.’ When they talk about not supporting McCain, it's always issues.”  Race and discrimination are very sensitive topics because some people are ashamed of the fact that it might be the deciding factor in choosing someone they dislike over someone they do like.  Spillius makes comparisons of the upcoming election and 1982 gubernatorial race in California that black candidate, Tom Bradley, lost despite leading his white opponent in the polls by seven points the night before the election.  With Obama leading the polls by 11 points, we can only hope that voters can ignore race so that the election does not have to deal with the “Bradley effect” and the possible percentage of whites that voice support for the Democrat, but then vote for the white opponent.

            Voters not only have to ignore race, but also look at the issues and positions of Barack Obama.  Perhaps the most important issues America must address in the new presidential terms are the economy, health care, and the war in Iraq.  A breakdown of

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each one of these issues is available on Barack Obama’s website and shows the Senator’s positional dominance over his opponent in many important issues.  First off, with our country in the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, every American should be concerned with the economic plans of our new president.  In Obama’s economic outline, he plans on providing a tax cut for 95% of working Americans, or anyone making under $250,000 a year, eliminate all capital gains taxed on setup of small businesses, and spread good American jobs to foreign markets around the world.  These economic plans not only put money back in the pockets of 95% of working Americans, but all allows and encourages new jobs to lower the growing unemployment rate.  Secondly, Obama plans to decrease the overwhelming number of 47 million Americans without health care by lowering health care costs by $2,500 for a typical family, promoting public health, and most of all, making health insurance more affordable and accessible to all Americans.  Furthermore, a highly controversial issue that Obama plans to attack the first day of office if elected is the war in Iraq.  In his plan, he will, according to his website, responsibly remove American troops from Iraq, launch an aggressive diplomatic effort to reach a comprehensive compact on the stability of Iraq and the region, and press Iraq’s leaders to take responsibility for their future and substantially spend their oil revenues on their own reconstruction.  Although this issue has, and may always have opposing viewpoints, Obama’s plan will prevent the continuation of government spending on the war that is now nearly $10 billion a month.

            With the positive positions of Barack Obama being provided, the positions of his opponent John McCain tend to be very different and rather similar to the preceding

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president that got our nation into this mess.  As stated already, Republican candidate, John McCain has voted with President George W. Bush over 90% of the time, and sees little problem with how he is leading the nation.  An article by Elizabeth Bumiller examines this issue based on the similarities of McCain and Bush’s positions on issues including the economy, health care, and war in Iraq.  In one part of the article, Bumiller shows the traditional conservative Republican view of war and how it is transcended very similarly in both McCain and Bush’s policies.  She writes, “Like Bush, McCain has steadfastly refused to set dates for withdrawals of troops and envisions a long-term American presence in the country.”  However, she also states that McCain may be a bit more of an extremist on the issue, as he supports former defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld's “whack a mole” strategy of moving American troops from one violence-plagued part of Iraq to another. Bumiller also argues in the article that the economy, which is negatively affecting the most Americans, is the biggest similarity to President Bush by offering large tax reforms that disproportionately favor the upper class.  Also, McCain offers more tax reforms that further favor the rich by reducing the corporate tax rate to 25 percent from 35 percent, providing immediate tax breaks for corporate investment, repealing alternative minimum tax, and doubling the value of exemptions for dependents to $7,000 from $3,500.  Yet another major issue that McCain and Bush are almost identical on is the market-orientated health care model that they both support.  Each politician’s health care plan suggests health insurance to be bought by individuals rather than insurance provided by employers, and offers a tax benefit to families doing so. 

 

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Again, this plan is designed to be more valuable and adaptable to higher-income Americans and less of a safety net to the middle to lower class.

            Through the evidence given, it is clear that Barack Obama is more suitable to take over the presidential position and turn this nation around than his opponent, John McCain.  However, there is still a small, yet significant percentage of Americans that will vote for McCain based upon their, as much as they may cover it up with reasons such as trust, problem with having a black president.  Although the issue of race has barely been addressing in the election, voters should be encouraged to ignore race as being a factor in choosing between the candidates.  Barack Obama’s plans compared to that of John McCain show our nation can recover from this economic crisis, spread the accessibility of health care, and end the war that has cost America $10 billion a month and over 4,000 American casualties since it began in 2003.  The evidence is all there, it is now up to the American voter to make the right decision so that this country can prosper again.  Barack the vote.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Work Cited

Spillius, Alex. “Obama’s Race Lurks Just Below Radar.” The Sydney News Herald. 13

October 2008. 26 October 2008. <http://www.smh.com.au/news/us-election/

obamas-race-lurks-just-below-radar/2008/10/12/1223749846324.html>

Obama, Barack. Barack Obama and Joe Biden: The Change We Need. 2008. Obama For

            America. 26 October 2008.

Bumiller, Elizabeth. “Is McCain like Bush? It Depends On the Issue.” International

Herald Tribune. 17 June 2008. 26 October 2008.

2008/06/17/america/17policy.php>