Thanks to the success of the surge, Iraq's political order is evolving in positive and hopeful ways. Four out of the six laws cited as benchmarks by the U.S. have been passed by the Iraqi legislature. A law on amnesty and a law rolling back some of the harsher restrictions against former employees of the Iraqi government have made it possible for Iraqis to move toward genuine reconciliation. The legislature has devolved greater power to local and provincial authorities, where much of the real work of rebuilding Iraq is taking place.
I think this shows his lack of understanding that we have alienated the rest of the world, and we need to relinquish our hold on that country before our neighbors can even begin to think about getting back to where we were 6 or 8 years ago.
Education
Barack Obama comes to the table with recent experience in America's Educational system, but not much. He does have 2 school-aged daughters but I fear he may actually be out of touch with the reality of public school systems. Fortunately, according to what I'm reading below, he knows that they need more money, and better teachers, his platform promises to deliver just that.
High-Quality Zero to Five Early Education
Obama will launch a Children’s First Agenda that provides care, learning and support to families with
children from birth up to five years old.
Reform No Child Left Behind
Obama believes that the goal of No Child Left Behind was the right one, but that it was written and
implemented poorly and it has demoralized our educators and broken its promise to our children. Obama
will fund No Child Left Behind and improve its assessments and accountability systems.
Improve K-12
Obama will improve our schools by recruiting well-qualified teachers to every classroom in America. Obama
will improve teacher compensation by rewarding expert, accomplished teachers for taking on challenging
assignments and helping teachers succeed. Obama also will reduce the high school dropout rate and close
the achievement gap by investing in proven intervention strategies in the middle grades and in summer
learning and afterschool opportunities.
Make Community College and College Education Affordable
Obama will create a new American Opportunity Tax Credit that will make tuition at the nation’s community
colleges completely free and will cover up to two-thirds the cost of tuition at the nation’s public colleges and
universities. This $4,000 tax credit will be fully refundable and available at the time of enrollment in college
– when families need the money.
John McCain continues to fuel rumors that he is out of touch with America, the lynch pin of his education plan involves increasing the funding to our existing voucher system, and lowering standards in our schools via the NCLB act.
Public education should be defined as one in which our public support for a child's education follows that child into the school the parent chooses. The school is charged with the responsibility of educating the child, and must have the resources and management authority to deliver on that responsibility. They must also report to the parents and the public on their progress.
John McCain will place parents and children at the center of the education process, empowering parents by greatly expanding the ability of parents to choose among schools for their children. He believes all federal financial support must be predicated on providing parents the ability to move their children, and the dollars associated with them, from failing schools.
(Emphasis added, because you know the first thing we all should do is yank money out of failing schools, right?
) I must say that if you have a little one and you value their education, and you do not make enough to send your children to private schools, then you should really research what McCain has to say, because it is my opinion that it's terrible for our childrens' future.
Well my friends maybe you don't think like me. Maybe you do. But surely you can see that the only thing McCain represents is more of the same, stifled growth, poor education standards, increased military spending, more and more foreclosed homes.
Maybe you see Obama as the bad guy here, he's working to bring our country down from the inside - well I just hope you understand how ridiculous that sounds.
Maybe you think McCain is somehow the better choice here, if that is the case then if you could please explain something to me that I have tried for days to wrap my head around, and that is this:
How can we as a proud people (as Americans are, and should be) together stand and tell the world that not only has the last 8 years been good for us, but that we want 4 more years of tired Republican hogwash and logrolling?
