Head to head: Obama

By Tamika Robinson
Feature Editor

Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, and his running mate, Joe Biden, plan to make college affordable for all Americans by creating a new American Opportunity Tax Credit. This universal and fully refundable credit will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans and will cover two-thirds of the cost of tuition at the average public college or university. It will also make community college tuition completely free for most students. Recipients of the credit will be required to conduct 100 hours of community service.
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Obama and Biden plan to provide affordable, accessible health care for all Americans, build on the existing health care system and use existing providers, doctors and plans to implement their plan. Patients will be able to make health care decisions with their doctors instead of being blocked by insurance companies. If patients like their current health insurance, the only thing that will change will be that their costs will go down by as much as $2,500 per year. If patients do not like their health insurance or do not have health insurance, they will have a choice of new, affordable health insurance options.

Obama and Biden will provide $50 billion to jumpstart the economy and prevent 1 million Americans from losing their jobs. This relief would include a $25 billion State Growth Fund to prevent state and local cuts in health, education, housing and heating assistance or counter-productive increases in property taxes, tolls or fees. The Obama-Biden relief plan will also include $25 billion in a Jobs and Growth Fund to prevent cutbacks in road and bridge maintenance and fund school repair to save more than the 1 million jobs in danger of being cut.

Obama plans to use a phased removal of American troops, directed by military commanders on the ground and done in consultation with the Iraqi government. Military experts believe the United States can safely re-deploy combat brigades from Iraq at a pace of one to two brigades a month that would remove them in 16 months. That would be the summer of 2010 – more than seven years after the war began.