Presidential Elections 2008/Chapter 5: The aims of the candidates
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Aims of the candidates
Inhaltsverzeichnis |
Barack Obama
Foreign affairs (by Jaana)
The Iraq war
Barack Obama is against the Iraq war, in opposite to McCain.
He wants to remove a big part of the US-troops, in order to out an end to the war.
Iran
Obama calls on the Iran to “take some ownership for creating some stability in Iraq”. Otherwise, he had not ruled out military action against Iran.
Afghanistan
Obama reckons the Afghanistan theme to be very important. He wants to open a third frontal section [Frontabschnitt] in the border area [Grenzregion] to Pakistan. Therefore he needs a global partnership against the terror.
Europe
Obama asks for more help from european allies in conjunction with Afghanistan.
Darfur (Sudan)
In conjunction with Darfur, Obama favored the abatement [Bekämpfung] of the genocide[Völkermord].
Guantanamo
Obama wants to close the US military prison Guantanamo on Cuba.
Nuclear weapons
He wants a world without nuclear weapons. Therefore, he says, it’s necessary to debate with Iran.
Human rights
He calls on the people to comply with the human rights on the whole world.
Climate policy (worldwide)
He wants to downsize the CO2 production. Therefore, he wants to work “hand in hand” with Russia and China.
Foreign aid
For example, Obama is the principal sponsor of the Global Poverty Act of 2007.
One of his aims is the decrement of the worldwide poverty.
Guantanamo
Obama wants to close the prison Guantanamo on Cuba.
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Barack_Obama
http://www.focus.de/politik/ausland/focus-interview_aid_135073.html
http://www.rp-online.de/public/article/594204/Obama-Tag-in-Berlin.html
Domestic aims and political positions (by Rivka)
a short preface...
To assure a good comprehension I divided the article about Obamas domestic aims and political positions into the headlines "economic policy" and "social policy" with several subheadlines. Besides I marked the most important aims and often discussed issues with an exclamation mark. Furthermore I made a list of vocabulary which you will find below the article, where you can also find the list of references. It was hard work and took a long time to pick out and collect useful information and to cut, translate and rewrite them, so I hope that was worth it and you enjoy reading my article!
Economic policy
Social security (including health care) (!)
Obama supports a reformation of the health-care system. He wants to apply federal resources to make health insurance affordable to each citizen and a compulsory coverage for children. Furthermore he wants to achieve a national health program which guarantees an insurance to every employee.
Enconomy and financial crisis (!)
Obama argues for an aid package including 32 bil. euros to boost the economy. According to him a plan is needed which ensures the payback of the 700 bil. to the taxpayers the banks received as an financial support, further on the use has to be strictly controlled and manager wages have to be reduced. Eventually people who are threatened by losing their homes due to bond-issues have to be supported by federal administration.
Taxes (!)
Obama wants to undo the Bush-administrations tax cut, therefore each household earning more than 250.000 US-Dollar has to pay higher taxes than before. The top earning 0.1 percent shall pay an additional 800.000 US-Dollar per year.
Energy policy (!)
Obama wants to increase the payment of taxes by oil-companies. Besides he wants alternative energies to be state-aided (30 percent of federal government's electricity would come from renewable sources by 2020.) but he isn't against building new nuclear power plants.
Antipoverty program and minimum wage
Obama wants to support familys and socially disadvantaged people, but he excepts social services like the European ones. Anyhow his concept includes reeducation programs and employment schemes. He wants to establish networks at social hot spots which shall improve violence prevention and education for children. He wants to increase the federal minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25.
Immigration
Obama wants to improve border security in view of illegal immigration but he supports a guest worker program.
Lobbying
Obama is against the influence of lobbying in the United States. That's why he does not take contributions from federally registered lobbyists, though he does accept money from non-federal and unregistered lobbyists.
NASA
Barack Obama believes that the United States needs a strong space program to help maintain its power not only in space, but also on earth concerning education, technology and national security.
Social policy
Climate change and the environment (!)
Obama advocates emission trading. He wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent below the level of 1990 until 2050. The emissions shall also decrease on a global level, hand in hand with China, India and Russia. Furthermore he has pledged for improving air and water quality through reduced carbon emissions.
Civil rights (!)
According to his website, Obama wants to adapt the wages of men and women, black, white and latino people. (The current situation in America: For every $1.00 earned by a man, the average woman receives only 77 cents, while African American women only get 67 cents and Latinas receive only 57 cents.) He wants put an end to the ideological racial prejudice of many Americans and discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. If elected president Obama will strengthen federal hate crimes legislation.
Death penalty (!)
Obama advocates death penalty in serious cases like sexual abuse and murder of children or mass murder. Nonetheless in obamas mind death penalty does not really act as a deterrent. According to him many death sentences just come about because of disputable methods of the police, racist prejudice and bad defense attorneys. He thinks that the death penalty is used too frequently and inconsistently.
Arms & gun control (!)
Obama generally recommends the right of gun possession which is written down in the constitution, though he asks for a strict gun control. Under his leading the sale of assault weapons should be prohibited and buying handguns should be limited by one per month.
Abortion
The senator wants to legalize abortion in the first three months of pregnancy. In his opinion this is part of the female privacy.
Same-sex Marriage
Obama personally believes that marriage is a religious bond between a man and a woman. He supports civil unions for same-sex couples which would be homosexual marriage in all but name, but believes that decisions about the name marriage should be left to the states.
Federal Funding for Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Obama supports federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and was a co-sponsor of the 2005 Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act.
Sex education
During a speech Obama has said that he "does not support teaching explicit sex education to children in kindergarten", but he supported a bill for “age and developmentally appropriate” sex education as an Illinois Senator.
Religion
Obama supports the separation of church and state.
Vocabulary:
financial crisis: die Finanzkrise
aid package: das Hilfepacket
taxpayers: die Steuerzahler
wages: der Arbeitslohn
bond-issues: die Anleihen (staatliche)
federal: (Bundes-)staatlich
tax-cut: die Steuersenkung
reeducation: die Umschulung
employment schemes: die Beschäftigungsprogramme
social hot spots: soziale Brennpunkte
federal resources: staatliche Mittel (finanz.)
insurance: die Versicherung
compulsory coverage: die Versicherungspflicht
state-aided: staatlich gefördert
lobbying: das Lobbying (Beeinflussung von Abgeordneten)
emission trading: der Emissionshandel
greenhouse gas: das Treibhausgas
gun posession: der Waffenbesitz
assault weapons: die Sturmwaffen
prohibited: verboten
abortion: die Abtreibung
embryonic stem cell research: die Stammzellenforschung
inconsistently: unvereinbar, widersprechend
to adapt something: etwas angleichen, anpassen
hate crime: aus Hass begangenes Verbrechen
legislation: die Gesetzgebung
If you don't understand some more single words, please use www.leo.org or a dictionary.
list of references:
http://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de/stn/page/1795152_0_2147_positionen-obamas-programm.html
http://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de/stn/page/1847559_0_2147_hintergrund-positionen-von-obama-und-mccain.html
several articles from:
http://www.zeit.de
http://www.heute.de
http://www.spiegel.de
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/02/us/politics/02obama.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/25/AR2007012500764.html
http://www.readers-edition.de/2008/06/05/us-vorwahlen-change-we-can-believe-in-obamas-traum-wird-wahr-aber-wofuer-steht-er/
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=26647
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1207/7577.html
several articles from:
http://www.barackobama.com
http://www.myspace.com/barackobama
http://obama.senate.gov/issues/
http://my.barackobama.com
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Barack_Obama
In the end I have a short quote for you:
America, this is our moment. This is our time.
Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past.
Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face.
Our time to offer a new direction for the country we love.
Barack Obama
John McCain
home affairs (by Julia)
health
- McCain is a professed anti-abortion activist
- He wants to make the US public health service to a lower price, to abate the prices of private health insurance.
- The candidate is against embryonic stem cell research, and wants to ban it penologically.
same-sex union
- McCain disapproves same-sex unions, but accepts civil unions in several federal states.
weapons and the death penalty:
- McCain is against disposal, buying and property of firearms.
- The candidate supports the death penalty and wants to enlarge the application of it for international dealers and terrorists.
- He wants to forbid the death penalty for underage people.
Guantanamo:
- McCain wants to close Guantanamo.
environment:
- Untill 2030 McCain wants to build 45 new nuclear power stations in the USA.
- He wants to convey oil from the USA.
clima change:
- McCain argues for renewable energy.
- The candidate wants to invest in the area of research.
taxes:
- He promisses to hold or even reduce the taxes for people who earn a lot of money.
- The business taxes shall be reduced from 35 to 25 percent to boost the economy and to produce more work stations.
vocabulary:
anti-abortion activist - Abtreibungsgegner
public health service - das Gesundheitswesen
private health insurance - private Krankenversicherung
embryonic stem cell research - embryonale Stammzellen Forschung
penologic - strafrechtlich
to disapprove sth. - gegen etw. sein
same-sex union - gleichgschlechtliche Ehe
civil union - eingetragene Lebenspartnerschaft
federal state Bundesstaat
weapons - Waffen
disposal - der Verkauf
property - der Besitz
fire arm - die Schusswaffe
underage people - Minderjährige
nuclear power station - Atomkraftwerk
to convey sth. - etw. fördern
renewable energy - erneuerbare Energie
area of research - der Forschungsbereich
taxes - Steuern
business taxes - die Unternehmenssteuer
to boost - etw. ankurbeln
economy - die Wirtschaft
references
http://www.wikipedia.de
http://www.spiegel.de
http://www.zeit.de
http://www.oekonews.de
foreign affairs (by Aline)
Strategy for Victory in Iraq and Iran
John McCain believes it is strategically and morally essential for the United States to support the Government of Iraq to become capable of governing itself and safeguarding its people. He strongly disagrees with those who advocate withdrawing American troops before that has occurred. He things that the consequenses for the allowance of the troops could get worse. He supports president Georg W. Bush if he say we disallow that the iran deletes Israel.
His opinon about Putin and Russia
He criticize the international politicken of Russia. He calls Russia as a autocracy because they have decrease their oil consignment to the Czech republic only because they have a agreement with the USA.
His opinion about China
He criticize the human rights in china after a meeting with the Dalai Lama.
Climate Change
He will work with international partners to secure our energy future, to create opportunities for American industry, and to leave a better future for our children. Climate Policy must facilitate international efforts to solve the problem.
Space Program
Senator McCain understands the importance of investments in key industries such as space to the future of our national security, environmental sustainability, economic competitiveness, and national pride as a technological leader.
Guantanamo
He also wants to close the prison on cuba.
nuclear weapons
he wants to decrease the nuclear weapons.
vocabulary
capable of - fähig sein
advocate - dafür sein
Troops - truppe
Occurred - aufgetreten
Facilitate - erleichtern
efforts - Bemühungen
sustainability - Nachhaltigkeit
competitivness - Wettbewerbsfähigkeit
pride - stolz
references
http://uswahlen2008.squarespace.com/youtube/2008/3/27/mccain-guantanamo-schlieen.html
http://www.wikipedia.de
http://www.zeit.de
http://www.johnmccain.com/splash32615.htm
http://www.spiegel.de
