Posts Tagged ‘mccain’

Independent Analysis of McCain and Obama Healthcare Plans

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

Jonathan Oberlander, Ph.D. wrote a recent article for the New England Journal of Medicine comparing the two health care proposals of John McCain and Barack Obama.

Key Elements of John McCain’s Plan

Key Elements of Barack Obama’s Plan

You can read the full article here: The Partisan Divide — The McCain and Obama Plans for U.S. Health Care Reform.

Dr. Oberlander is an associate professor of social medicine and of health policy and administration at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Debate Schedule Released

Thursday, August 21st, 2008

1. First Presidential Debate:

* Date: September 26
* Site: University of Mississippi
* Topic: Foreign Policy & National Security
* Moderator: Jim Lehrer
* Staging: Podium debate
* Answer Format: The debate will be broken into nine, 9-minute segments. The moderator will introduce a topic and allow each candidate 2 minutes to comment. After these initial answers, the moderator will facilitate an open discussion of the topic for the remaining 5 minutes, ensuring that both candidates receive an equal amount of time to comment

2. Vice Presidential Debate

* Date: October 2nd
* Site: Washington University (St. Louis)
* Moderator: Gwen Ifill
* Staging/Answer Format: To be resolved after both parties’ Vice Presidential nominees are selected.

3. Second Presidential Debate

* Date: October 7
* Site: Belmont University (Nnashville)
* Moderator: Tom Brokaw
* Staging: Town Hall debate
* Format: The moderator will call on members of the audience (and draw questions from the internet). Each candidate will have 2 minutes to respond to each question. Following those initial answers, the moderator will invite the candidates to respond to the previous answers, for a total of 1 minute, ensuring that both candidates receive an equal amount of time to comment. In the spirit of the Town Hall, all questions will come from the audience (or internet), and not the moderator.

4. Third Presidential Debate

* Date: October 15
* Site: Hofstra University
* Topic: Domestic and Economic policy
* Moderator: Bob Schieffer
* Staging: Candidates will be seated at a table
* Answer Format: Same as First Presidential Debate
* Closing Statements: At the end of this debate (only) each candidate shall have the opportunity for a 90 second closing statement.

The Right Judgment for President

Friday, August 1st, 2008

 

Barack Obama has proven that he can step up to a challenge and has the judgment to make the right call even when it’s not the easy one.

As a community organizer, Obama developed strategies to empower ordinary citizens to improve their communities.  Realizing he could do more to help if he had a law degree, he attended Harvard, the top law school in the country.  He did so well that he became president of the Harvard Law Review.

Listen to the people he worked with and you soon realize that he is an extremely intelligent, tireless worker.  As an Illinois state legislator and U.S. Senator, he impressed his fellow legislators, both democrat and republican, with his intelligence and work ethic.

As a candidate for the democratic nomination, he proved to be the best campaigner by defeating the Clinton political machine which basically built most of the current Democratic Party.  His command of issues like the economy, healthcare, energy independence, and foreign policy (the Bush Administration is moving to Obama’s position Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan), have frustrated the McCain campaign to the point that they have resorted to character attacks on Obama (and it’s only July!).

Historically, if you analyze the position of president, judgment and the ability to handle unforeseen challenges are the essential characteristics a candidate for president needs.  George W. Bush as well as many other presidents has said as much.

What many have realized is that Barack Obama’s steady temperament (no-shock Barack) and decision-making abilities make him the ideal candidate for president.