Candidate Positions

Original source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/obama-power-challenger-_b_36129.html

“People notice what’s going on overseas and they say we are not afraid to compete. But as globalization advances and corporations bottom lines know no borders and our young people are competing against children not just in California or Florida or Illinois they are competing against folks in Calcutta or Beijing.”

“At that point parents start saying why aren’t we doing everything we can to prepare our young people making them adept at math and science so that they can get the jobs of the future and be the innovators of the future? Why wouldn’t we invest in early childhood education to bring every child up to par? Why wouldn’t we start paying our teachers more and help develop training for them to recruit the best and the brightest for the classroom? Why on earth would we start increasing the cost of student loans at the precise time we know that our young people are going to be needing a college education more than ever?”

Technorati Tags: Barack+Obama, globalization

Original source: http://globalwarming-factorfiction.com/2007/05/16/remarks-of-senator-barack-obama-4306/

Sen. Obama appears to want greater efforts given to conservation and the discovery/use of alternative fuels. He also appears to think that we are in the midst of a global warming crisis caused by man.
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The idea here is simple: if you’re a business that can’t yet meet the lower cap we’ll put on harmful carbon emissions, you can either purchase credits from other companies that have achieved more than their emissions goal, or you can temporarily purchase a permit from the government, the money from which will go towards investments in clean energy technology. As Fred Krupp, the president of Environmental Defense has said, “Once you put a value on carbon reductions, you make winners out of innovators.”

Original source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/elections/chi-0410270128oct27,1,3506733.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

Responding to questions about education policy, Keyes took a shot at Obama after the Democrat said he opposes vouchers for private schools, because they would undermine public schools. Asked about where he sends his two daughters to school, Obama acknowledged that they attend the private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools in Hyde Park.

Obama said he sends his daughters there because both he and his wife have jobs with the university, and they get a break on tuition.

“I do not see the day when every American family is going to be able to be employed by the University of Chicago so they, too, can have a choice,” Keyes countered.

Original source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/17/politics/main2369157.shtml

Obama regularly supported gun-control measures, including a ban on semiautomatic “assault weapons” and a limit on handgun purchases to one a month.

He also opposed letting people use a self-defense argument if charged with violating local handgun bans by using weapons in their homes. The bill was a reaction to a Chicago-area man who, after shooting an intruder, was charged with a handgun violation.

Original source: http://obama.senate.gov/speech/060403-floor_statement_of_senator_barack_obama_on_immigration_reform/index.html

Floor Statement of Senator Barack Obama on Immigration Reform
Monday, April 3, 2006

Mr. President, I come to the floor today to enter the debate on comprehensive immigration reform. It is a debate that will touch on the basic questions of morality, the law, and what it means to be an American.

I know that this debate evokes strong passions on all sides. The recent peaceful but passionate protests that we saw all across the country–500,000 in Los Angeles and 100,000 in my hometown of Chicago–are a testament to this fact, as are the concerns of millions of Americans about the security of our borders.

But I believe we can work together to pass immigration reform in a way that unites the people in this country, not in a way that divides us by playing on our worst instincts and fears.

Like millions of Americans, the immigrant story is also my story. My father came here from Kenya, and I represent a State where vibrant immigrant communities ranging from Mexican to Polish to Irish enrich our cities and neighborhoods. So I understand the allure of freedom and opportunity that fuels the dream of a life in the United States. But I also understand the need to fix a broken system.

When Congress last addressed this issue comprehensively in 1986, there were approximately 4 million illegal immigrants living in the United States. That number had grown substantially when Congress again addressed the issue in 1996. Today, it is estimated that there are more than 11 million undocumented aliens living in our country.

Original source: http://obama.senate.gov/speech/060717-statement_of_support_for_stem_cell_research/index.html

Statement of Support for Stem Cell Research
Monday, July 17, 2006

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery

Mr. President, a few weeks ago I was visited by two of my constituents– Mary Schneider and her son Ryan.

When Ryan was just two years old, his parents and doctors noted severe delays in his motor and speech development, and he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. His parents were devastated, as the prognosis for many children with cerebral palsy is quite grim, and given the severity of Ryan’s condition, his doctors didn’t have much hope for his improvement.

Yet, his parents had hope. Because when Ryan was born, his parents had saved his cord blood, a viable but limited source of stem cells. They found a doctor at Duke University who was willing to perform an experimental infusion with these cells to see if they might improve his condition.

They did. In fact, they seem to have cured him.

Within months of the infusion, Ryan was able to speak, use his arms, and eat normally, just like any other child - a miracle his family had once only dreamed of.

Ryan’s story exemplifies the power and the promise of stem cells to treat and cure the millions of Americans who are suffering from catastrophic, debilitating and life-threatening diseases and health conditions.

Each year, 100,000 Americans will develop Alzheimer’s disease. Over 1 million adults will be diagnosed with diabetes this year, which can lead to complications such as blindness, damaged nerves and loss of kidney function. And there are far too many individuals with spinal cord injuries who are struggling to maintain mobility and independence.

For most of our history, medicine has offered little hope of recovery to individuals affected by these and other devastating illnesses and injuries.

Original source: http://www.ppaction.org/ppvotes/fab_sc_responses.html

Chicago, IL- Senator Barack Obama today made the following statement in response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding abortion.

“I strongly disagree with today’s Supreme Court ruling, which dramatically departs from previous precedents safeguarding the health of pregnant women. As Justice Ginsburg emphasized in her dissenting opinion, this ruling signals an alarming willingness on the part of the conservative majority to disregard its prior rulings respecting a woman’s medical concerns and the very personal decisions between a doctor and patient. I am extremely concerned that this ruling will embolden state legislatures to enact further measures to restrict a woman’s right to choose, and that the conservative Supreme Court justices will look for other opportunities to erode Roe v. Wade, which is established federal law and a matter of equal rights for women.”