John McCain vs. Hillary Clinton
Are you better off today than you were seven years ago?
John McCain is the presumptive Republican nominee for
president; the Democrats are still battling it out between Hillary Clinton and
Barack Obama. For the purpose of this column, I am going to write as if Hillary
Clinton has the Democratic nomination.
There are several issues on which these two are on
opposite sides, but I will cover the three biggest that are on the minds of the
American people: Iraq, the Economy and Healthcare.
Iraq
John McCain wants to continue on with the War in Iraq. In
fact, he is very proud that he was the only one calling for more troops in what
President Bush calls “The Surge.” The surge, or, as I like to call it, the
escalation, has quieted things down in Iraq with regard to the violence, but it
still hasn’t produced a political restoration or a coming-together of the three
factions — the Kurds, the Sunnis and the Shiites. But John McCain has been
campaigning as though it is a success.
Hillary Clinton has said that she will start bringing the
troops home within the first sixty days of her presidency. She has also said
that some troops will still remain to protect our embassy, to continue the
training of Iraqi security forces, and to continue the fight against al-Qaeda.
She has said that it would take at least two years to bring home the majority
of our troops that are there now.
The
Economy
Another hot topic in the news is our failing economy. The
dollar has sunk to new lows, oil prices have risen to new highs, the housing
market is in a dive, and food, gas and most other daily necessities cost more
as each day goes by.
John McCain, while admitting that Congress for the last
seven years has been spending like a drunken sailor, does realize that we
cannot continue spending billions for war and cut taxes at the same time.
While McCain says that the Bush tax cuts that he first
voted against need to remain, he also says that we must cut back on spending.
He has also said that he cannot promise that he would not raise taxes. His
biggest campaign promise is that he would veto any bill that contained any
so-called earmarks.
Hillary Clinton has said that she would roll back the Bush
tax cuts for the rich, and give more tax breaks to the middle class and to the
working poor. Clinton has said that she would have a 90-day moratorium on
foreclosures and freeze interest rates at whatever the current rate may be for
the homeowner.
She has also said that she would re-address the bankruptcy
laws that were put in place during the Bush administration and are slanted in
favor of lending institutions. She says that people should not have to lose
everything they own because of some terrible illness.
Healthcare
John McCain wants to continue on the course we have now
with healthcare, he says the free market is better suited to bring the costs of
healthcare and insurance down. But it is the free market that has caused the
prices to go up every year.
Hillary Clinton wants to offer Universal Healthcare to all
Americans. According to the Congressional Budget Office, there are 48 million
Americans without any coverage.
The CBO has said that in the year 2006, 89 million Americans
went without any health insurance during part or all of that year.
The CBO also said that by the year 2012, 150 million
Americans will no longer be able to afford the cost of healthcare. So
something’s got to give. Either the cost must come down through action of the
free market, as John McCain says, or another system must be put in place, such
as Universal Healthcare.
Are you better off today than you were seven years ago?
If you are OK with the direction in which America is
currently moving, then you should vote for the “Stay
the Course” candidate, John McCain; if you are not, then Hillary Clinton should
be your choice.
There are no easy answers for these
issues; the next President will be saddled with many hard problems that will
certainly require great sacrifices.