Picking apart politics!

Health Care

Barack Obama: Obama proposes that a health plan will be available to all Americans, and that it will be affordable. He guarantees that no American will be turned away because of illness or preexisiting conditions. Obama wants paperwork to be simplified for health care, and wants there to be portability of insurance plans if individuals change jobs. He also believes that children should have mandatory health care coverage, and that coverage under parents plans should be extended till the age of 25. Supporting disease management programs is an important issue to Obama, to help care with chronic illnesses. Patient safety, comparative effectiveness research, and insurance reform are also issues Obama believes need to be monitored/dealt with. Obama wants to lower costs through investments in Electronic Health Information Technology Systems.

Hillary Clinton: Hillary Clinton also wants to make health care more affordable, and wants to improve quality at the same time. She does not believe that there should be any discrimination if people have pre-existing conditions. Clinton believes that tax credits will help make sure that working families dont have to pay a high percentages of their income. She wants health care to be reliable, so that it will exist even if someone changes their job or loses it. Hillary says that she would give tax credits to small businesses.


John McCain: McCain beleives that we need to bring health care costs under control through saving Medicare/Medicaid, providing health benefits to retirees, and by letting companies compete. He thinks that health care money should be put at the hands of individuals so that they can have more control. Access to health care is important to McCain. He wants people that are in all different areas, temorarily or chronically uninsured, and in inner cities to have access. McCain says that patients should have more decisions and responsibility. McCain also wants to reform the tax code to provide people with a tax credit.

Overall i would say that Barack Obama has the strongest solution oriented proposal. His website gave a lot of detail about what he has done in the past, and all of the problems that he wants to deal with. He went into specifics about legislation he sponsored, and act that he has co-sponsored to improve health. His website described many health problems like lead-poisoning, mercury pollution, autism, AIDS, and other issues, and didn't only explain what the problems were, but gave solutions, like strengthening fundings, and reducing amount of mercury deposits. Obama says that "My plan begins by covering every American. If you already have health insurance, the only thing that will change for you under this plan is the amount of money you will spend on premiums. That will be less. If you are one of the 45 million Americans who don't have health insurance, you will have it after this plan becomes law. No one will be turned away because of a preexisting condition or illness.”
Even though this sounds like a big promise, his solutions of dealing with health issues seem attainable.

The biggest fallacies I found in researching all the canidates' responses to health care is that they use words like "will" and "we can" quite often. These may be too strong of words to use. Saying "we will try our hardest" does sound weaker, but it may be more realistic. Then, they couldn't be punished if something doesn't happen for saying they WILL. Some of the issues were overgeneralized and not explained thoroughly. Some of their promises seem too hopeful and not realistic enough.

1. To John McCain: What do you think some consequences would be if Americans are given the control and responsibilty that you mention in health care?
2. To Barack Obama: You make a lot of promises about universal healthcare being affordable, but how much money are Americans going to end up paying in taxes with the Obama plan?

An organization that would be beneficial for taking part in solution-oriented problems on a local level would be the GMU College Republicans or Democrats. Both groups have many activities for people to be involved. The GMU Republican group is hosting Support the Troops week, and also Gun Rights Week. They have hosted Grover Norquist for Conservative Pride Week and Akindele Akinyemi for Black History Month. The GMU Democrat group has had speakers come to GMU, like Andrew Hurst in 2006. Also, on February 5th, 2007 they hosted a rally for Obama where senator Obama appeared. Information about the groups can be found on their websites. College Republicans & College Democrats. To be more involved upon joining the groups individuals could send letters to the presidential canidates about issues that concern them. Also, they could host more informative events to spread awareness about issues--ie global warming, war in Iraq, health care, education, etc.

To be more specific about health care, the Student Nurse's Association at GMU offers volunteer programs and learning experiences to be involved in health care for the community. An individual may be taken more seriously if they're trying to take a stand on health care if they are part of a group like this. They could speak about the issue, send petitions/letters to health officials.


Becky discussed the uses of energy in her blog. She thought that Hillary came up with ideas that could be very beneficial. For example, Hillary proposed a $50 billion Strategic Energy Fund that would give money to investing in alternative energy sources. This Fund would be paid in part by oil companies. Becky thought that John McCain's solutions were vague, and that he didn't give very specific examples of how he was going to address issues. The group that Becky proposed to help get involved is Habitat for Humanity. She said the groups helps the environment because volunteers are used to help build homes for the homeless and poor, instead of having industrial companies buy/use the land for more detrimental things, like factories.

Noor wrote about the Iraq war, and Obama's propositions to help end it. She mentions how he wants to start sending troops back home, but at the same time realizes that he needs to do it gradually. Noor also mentions that Obama was to make sure there is still protection against major threats in Iraq.