The 2008 United States Presidential Candidates Essay (Critical Writing)

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Introduction

The 2008 United States Presidential election will be historical in a sense not because of the issues involved, but because of the possibility of a colored person becoming the president of the United States. Barack Obama, senator from Illinois, and Republican candidate may well become that person once the election is over. But once the novelty wears off or if John McCain (Republican candidate and senator from Arizona) may be the winner to occupy the White House, the real issues remain. Both the candidates have talked about the current issues and their views on the same to many prominent publications among them, the Washington Post. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the main issues raised by the presidential hopefuls and to arrive at possible solutions for the same.

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The issues

It would appear from the views of both the candidates that there are internal as well as external issues that need urgent solutions. The Washington Post had asked a set of similar questions and has given the candidates’ view on the same. The questions were dealt with a wide range of issues which includes health care, social security, Iraq, national security, immigration policy, gun control and the three most important policies if elected to office. A review and analysis of both the leaders’ views on major issues are given below:

Social Security

Both Obama and McCain are of the view that there is inadequacy in the present system. Obama takes an approach of raising taxes, change of benefits, etc. he is against privatizing personal accounts. McCain is willing to take hard decisions and was also in support of people having personal accounts as a form of future security.

Health Care

Both agree that the present system should be made comprehensive and affordable. While Obama feels that the government machinery itself can handle this, McCain is of the view that privatization of health care and health care insurance is one way of making it efficient.

The policy of Iraq

The candidates agree that the policy on Iraq was flawed. They agree that many costly mistakes have been made and ultimately, only withdrawal of US troops from the country is a solution. But Obama says that withdrawal will be immediate if he is elected. Only a skeleton force will remain to protect American projects still operating on Iraqi soil. McCain says that an immediate evacuation of troops is like admitting defeat. “I want our troops home too, but I want our troops to return home with honor and in victory.” (McCain). So, one can expect American troops to continue and risk more lives if McCain is the next president.

Three important policies if elected

Here again, the candidates differ on two and agree on point only. The point they agree on is the fight against terrorism. Both agree that an attack like the one that happened on 9/11 could happen again. Obama rates this second in his list of the three priorities. For McCain, this issue comes first. For Obama, the first issue is the ending of the war in Iraq. He even took political mileage out of the comments of his opponent when McCain casually said that the troops might remain even for the next hundred years if needed. Obama’s reply to this was “Sen. McCain said the other day that we might be mired for 100 years in Iraq — which is reason enough not to give him four years in the White House.” (Election Centre 2008: McCain Defends ‘100 Years in Iraq’ Statement).

His third important issue to be solved is preventing stockpiling of weapons, especially nuclear ones so that a global arms race might be prevented. He says that America and Russia should lead the way for other nations to follow. For McCain, the third most important and maybe even controversial issue is finding an alternative to the United Nations. He is of the opinion that the UN has ceased to be effective in preventing many of the problems in the world and proposed the formation of a ‘League of Democracies.

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Solutions and stand on the issues

Social security

The social security system was started in 1935 as a temporary measure to help retirees during the great depression. But it still continues and is one of the largest areas of expenditure for the government today. Workers and employees pay a tax (6.2% to 12.4%) of their income to pay for the current benefits of retired employees. It is estimated that the fund can sustain itself only till 2017 mainly due to the large growth in population after World War II (baby boomers).

The solutions some of which may prove to be unpopular are given here. One way is to increase the taxes and income limits on which tax is to be paid. The other is to decrease the amount and range of benefits currently provided. Both of these can be unpopular strategies. Starting a personal pension plan would be another option. But this will divert funds for current and future payments. Investing in more attractive (but risky) areas will also help. (LeBlanc). Currently, nine out of ten retirees (and other eligible persons) are beneficiaries of this scheme. A figure showing break up is given below:

Social security.

(LeBlanc). It is inevitable that something has to be done about this and the above solutions can be implemented as per need. Privatizing the system is not an option.

Public Health Care

The cost of treatment and health care in the US is extremely high and this has resulted in the cost of insurance going up. The result is that a large majority of the population is either uninsured or underinsured (42% or 75 million of all adults). Another problem is that the system is undertaken by a mix of private, voluntary, and governmental organizations.. There are few options that the government can do to tackle the problem directly.

The government should try to improve basic healthy by promoting healthy living, steps to promote people to quit smoking. Primary and preventable health care should increase. Better coordination among the players should be implemented. Quality and proper planning should be ensured. The treatment which is now provider or insurer-centric should be made patient-centric. Reducing health insurance costs and at the same time, steps to increase profit for insurers should be taken up. Treatment systems should be made universal across the country. (Why Not the Best? Results from the National Scorecard on the U.S. Health System Performance, 2008).

Iraq War and terrorism

The Iraq war is probably the costliest mistake ever made in the history of the United States. Underestimating the problems that could have cropped up, not enough troop support, lack of support from officials of that country, poor reaction to emergencies are the main reasons for the debacle. (Collins P. 16). The paper also states some solutions to overcome the problem. It can be said that the same measures can be used to counter the issue of terrorism raised by the candidates. The first is to continue operations for stabilizing the situation. The US should try and form allies of all the countries and help them to control terrorist activities.

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Improve the defenses inside the US to prevent a situation like 9/11 from happening again. There should be coordinated action to counter terrorism with all countries that face the problem. The country should also expect and manage unexpected shocks from future terrorist attacks. US should be ready to face challenges if the governments of such countries change suddenly and are replaced by those who oppose US policies. Finally, the US should support and even initiate all peace processes in the region.

Other issues

Stockpiling of weapons is purely an internal matter that can be implemented by taking a strong decision to do so. Senator Obama had mentioned in the interview that the US has enough weapons to deter a direct military attack on it. It is also not practical whether a replacement of the United Nations with a League of Democracies. The US has enough issues at present to content with as mentioned in the paper. It would be better to focus on these if John McCain is elected to the Oval Office.

Conclusion

The main issues discussed by the presidential candidates for the US 2008 elections have been discussed and possible solutions have been provided by referencing authoritative sources. The social security issue can be solved by proposing strong and even unpopular policies. The public health care issue is more serious and will take more effort and time to find a solution to the near-crisis that is affecting it. The hardest issue that the new president faces will be solving the Iraq problem followed by tackling terrorism.

This can only be achieved through a patient on civilian approach. More military action will only complicate things and alienate the US from other countries. It would be advisable for a troop pullout as proposed by Obama and leave a small force till things are stabilized in the region. It would be a waste of time to out of focus exercise to find an alternative to the United Nations at this juncture.

Works Cited

McCain, John. The Presidential Field: Do you Support Setting a Deadline for Either a Withdrawal or a Partial Pullback of Troops from Iraq? If so, What Would be the Date of that Deadline? Washingtonpost. 2008. Web.

Election Centre 2008: McCain Defends ‘100 Years in Iraq’ Statement. CNN Politics. 2008. Web.

LeBlanc, Marc. The Social Security Debate in the United States. Parliamentary Information and Research Service. 2005. Web.

Why Not the Best? Results from the National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance, 2008. The Commonwealth Fund: A Private Foundation Working Toward a High Performance Health System. Vol. 97. Web.

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Collins, Joseph J. Choosing War: The Decision to Invade Iraq and Its Aftermath. Institute for National Strategic Studies: National Defence University. 2008. Web.

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IvyPanda. 2021. "The 2008 United States Presidential Candidates." September 24, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-2008-united-states-presidential-candidates/.

1. IvyPanda. "The 2008 United States Presidential Candidates." September 24, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-2008-united-states-presidential-candidates/.


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IvyPanda. "The 2008 United States Presidential Candidates." September 24, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-2008-united-states-presidential-candidates/.

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