As the contests to select presidential nominees for the two official political parties comes down the home stretch, it’s good to know that it’s almost over. Senator John McCain (AZ) has won the Republican nomination after a bruising slugfest. President Bush has just endorsed McCain, reason enough to get ready to stop this guy at the ballot box in November. As for the Democrats, the competition continues with Senators Hillary Clinton (NY) and Barack Obama (IL) both focusing on the important Pennsylvania primary election on April 22. Obama may land the knockout blow in Pennsylvania, or Clinton may capitalize on her the momentum from victories in Ohio and Texas and still have a shot at winning the nomination.
Let’s take a moment to look a little closer at Clinton and Obama, however. After seven years of Bush policies – war, corruption, job losses, skyrocketing prices, the housing crash – people are in the mood for change. Both Clinton and Obama have run popular and exciting campaigns, and both are good at delivering a crowd pleasing speech. The Obama campaign has also taken on an exciting momentum of its own, as he taps the discontent and desire for change from whole new layers of voters. But let’s not lose sight of some of the basic differences - and similarities of these two candidates. One of these two Democrats will be challenging John McCain in November, and that’s not going to be an easy job.
Let’s briefly look at both candidates:
CLINTON
Senator Hillary Clinton is now serving her second term in the U.S. Senate from New York. She was rated by the UE Congressional Scorecards (2001-2006) as having voted in support of working people 60% of the time. Clinton scored a 67% on the 2007 UE Congressional Scorecard.
IRAQ WAR Supported the Bush invasion of Iraq, has criticized the conduct of the occupation, but also supported a Senate resolution to facilitate Bush schemes to attack Iran.
HEALTH CARE Offers a plan that would force working people to buy their own health insurance, and leaves the insurance companies in control. She has threatened to garnish the wages of people who do not willingly buy this grossly over-priced private insurance, whether they can afford it or not. She offers vague promises of tax credits to help people pay the massive premiums for private health insurance, however.
WORKER RIGHTS Supports the Employee Free Choice Act to restore the ability to join a union.
THE REAL DEAL Clinton was the early favorite of Democratic Party insiders, consultants, big money donors, and the corporate news media. Her campaign staff and inner circle of advisors is largely comprised of operators from the regime of her husband, former President Bill Clinton. His major legacy for workers is the disastrous job-killing NAFTA scheme. Hillary Clinton’s various claims while campaigning in the Ohio primary that she had somehow opposed NAFTA were dishonest and preposterous, yet went largely unchallenged. Clinton also attempts to portray her husband’s presidency as some sort of wonderful time for working people from days gone by, which is far from the truth. Many of the disasters we now face under President Bush – such as our enormous trade deficit, or the massive corruption of federal and military contracting – were set in motion under President Clinton. The stalled Clinton campaign was revived by its victories in Ohio and Texas, and she must win the Pennsylvania primary on April 22 in order to win the eventual nomination. Check her out for yourself ...
OBAMA
Senator Barack Obama is now serving his first term in the U.S. Senate from Illinois. He was rated by the UE Congressional Scorecards (2005-2006) as having voted in support of working people 67% of the time. Obama scored a 67% on the 2007 UE Congressional Scorecard.
IRAQ WAR Opposed the Bush invasion of Iraq from its inception and urges a rapid withdrawal of our troops.
HEALTH CARE Offers a plan that would somehow allow working people to buy their own health insurance, but leaves the insurance companies in control. He does not threaten to garnish the wages of those who do not, or cannot, pay the premiums. His proposal also offers a host of reforms that are reasonable, but fall far short of solving this massive crisis.
WORKER RIGHTS Supports the Employee Free Choice Act to restore the ability to join a union.
THE REAL DEAL Obama has inspired supporters with his popular style, and has capitalized on the fact that he is not a longtime Washington, D.C. insider. He has motivated large numbers of young and disenchanted voters with his positive approach. On the key issue of our failed trade policies, Obama supports “amending” NAFTA, although he has supported a number of smaller job-exporting free trade deals, most recently the deal with Peru. His campaign has attracted a massive grass roots fundraising base, and has won the support of many traditional politicians who are fearful of another disastrous Clinton presidency. Obama has shown a qualitative growth during the campaign, but his popular style and his lack of Clinton political baggage are so far his strongest points. Check him out for yourself ...
All UE members – especially those who live in Pennsylvania – are strongly urged to take the time to investigate both the Clinton and Obama records before the important April 22 primary election. While there are many similarities between the two, there are many differences as well. Clinton prefers to harken back to the totally unproductive regime of her husband as some sort of positive example for what her administration might look like, while Obama paints an upbeat picture of where he sees his administration taking our nation.
While the two candidates differ significantly in their respective styles, there are some critical questions that working people have for both of them during this process:
- Which candidate is best suited to clean up the vast wreckage that will be left by the Bush regime?
- Which candidate will bring our troops home from Iraq and rescue our country from economic ruin caused by runaway military spending?
- Which candidate will stand up to big business and prosecute rampant corporate crime, starting with the lending crisis?
- Which candidate will tackle the insurance companies and fix our health care crisis?
- Which candidate will repair our disastrous trade policies and defend good manufacturing jobs?
- Which candidate will finally force big business and the rich to pay their fair share of the tax load?
- Which candidate will shut down the disgraceful privatization and contracting-out that has gutted our federal government?
- Which candidate will restore the ability of workers to organize and join unions?
- Which candidate will address the retirement security crisis and defend Social Security and our pension plans?
- Which candidate will adequately fund our public schools, colleges, and universities?
- Which candidate will assist our communities in providing the necessary public services that we need?
- Which candidate will ______(add your own)_____________ ?
You will have to decide.
The previous Clinton administration failed most of these simple tests. On the other hand, Obama is largely untested. Which candidate -- Clinton or Obama -- has the greatest capacity to break from the past and move forward with some real solutions to our many crises?
Look for the 2007 UE Congressional Scorecard coming in the new UE News. It will arrive at members homes by mail in late March, with ratings for House and Senate members for areas where UE members live and work. Please review it and see how your Members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate voted on several key issues during the 2007 Congressional session.