The two major issues facing our country in this election are the economy and foreign policy.

John McCain voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time during Bush’s terms. These neoconservative policies have created neither economic prosperity nor successful foreign policy. The Republicans cannot discuss the issues openly, so they resort to slandering Obama’s character and lying about his real policy plans. 

Vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin intentionally deceives the public by describing this election as “a choice between a politician who wants to raise taxes and redistribute your hard-earned money according to his priorities and a true reformer who wants to lower taxes and create jobs and get the economy back on the right track.”

We should begin our economic analysis with a few questions. First, how did our economy get off track? Secondly, who can we trust to bring reform to our economic problems? McCain has admitted, “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.” Perhaps this explains why he is proposing a budget that is being called the most irresponsible budget in American history. What it doesn’t explain, however, is why McCain championed legislation to delay regulations of savings and loans.

McCain attended two meetings designed to pressure federal regulators into halting or delaying their investigations and prosecutions, and received $54,000 in campaign contributions from the beneficiary of this political power play, Charlie Keating. 

Bill Black, the former deputy director of the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation, said “Senate historians were unable to find any instance in U.S. history that was comparable, in terms of five U.S. senators meeting with a regulator on behalf of one institution.”

The regulators backed off after McCain’s intervention, delaying their investigations. When the Savings and Loan bottomed out two years later, taxpayers had to pay $3.4 billion, and many investors lost their entire life savings. This was the hardest direct hit that taxpayers had taken prior to today’s mortgage crisis. The Senate Ethics Committee chastised McCain for his “poor judgment,” but took no firm actions against him.

The Republicans are lying when they make blanket statements like, “Obama wants to raise taxes.” Obama’s plan is to lower taxes for 95 percent of Americans, while McCain’s plan gives tax breaks mainly to the ultra rich. After a $700 billion debacle, McCain plans to give away an additional $300 billion every year to the most wealthy citizens and oil companies. Obama, however, will raise taxes on the richest Americans over 4 percent, and 39.6 percent is still very low, historically speaking, for the highest tax bracket in America.

The second-most important campaign issue is foreign policy. It is again clear that McCain cannot be trusted to lead America down a brighter path than the one we are treading down today. He has sold his allegiance to George Bush and the neoconservatives on the most important issues, like torture, shutting down Guantanamo and setting timetables for Iraq withdrawal. 

Even the Republican Colin Powell has endorsed Obama as the better candidate to lead our country’s foreign policy.

Something that is often overlooked by Republicans and Democrats alike is how our decision in this campaign will affect the power bases of radical and reform leaders around the world. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the radical leader of Iran who has built his presidency on his antagonistic stance toward the United States, most certainly will lose the next election if Obama is elected.

A win for Obama is a loss for Ahmadinejad because he no longer can use fear of the neoconservatives in the United States as a method to consolidate power in his own country. When fear is taken out of the equation, economic and social policies are given more weight, and reform leaders gain the advantage. 


Myles Ikenberry is a graduate student in chemical engineering. Please send comments to opinion@spub.ksu.edu.