CONGRATULATIONS

Well this is it. Barack Obama has taken office, for almost a year now. I am kind of upset that he didn't mention me in any of his speeches. I mean; Liz, Sarah, KENT, and myself won him the election with this blog. Basically.

Also, if i correctly recall, we got 145% on this. GO TEAM

Presidential Road

Presidential Election Process

Who is Barack Obama?

Barack Obama was born on August 4th, 1961 in Hawaii. He lived in Hawaii, Kansas mostly and spent a couple of years in Indonesia. He later went to New York and in 1983 graduated from Colombia University. After college Barack moved to Chicago to work for a church group looking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods. He realized that to make a big change there needed to be more done on a political level, and in 1991 he graduated with a law degree from Harvard University. Afterwards, he returned to Chicago and practiced law for a number of years before running for Illinois State Senate. In 2004 he became the third African American elected into the U.S. Senate after the Reconstruction. Growing up in a few different places, and having to work with both Democrats and Republicans has prepared Barack Obama for presidency. He has dealt with many issues pertaining to the middle class, and has always been trying to speak out on issues that America may have for the 21st century. Barack Obama, his wife Michelle, and their two daughters, Malia and Sasha live in the South Side of Chicago.

What Do We Think?

We think that Barack Obama should be our next president (and Joe Biden vice-president) because he has a better plan for our country. Obama's plan for the wars are to get us out, and not only will that save lots of American lives, it will also save us trillions of dollars. His plan for the trillions of dollars we save is to spend them on jumpstarting the economy and putting that money to better use. Better use to Barack Obama is putting that money into renewable energy, education, health care, jobs, and much more. To get people out of debt is always a good thing. Obama plans to cut taxes for the middle class and not for the wealthy who don't need them. He also plans to reform Medicare, and change lots of laws we have now that aren't working. Overall, we believe that Obama has a better plan for all of the issues, and his plans are all for the good of the American people.

Social Security

Strengthen Retirement Savings - Barack Obama and Joe Biden will make sure that banks place the workers higher on their priority list than they are right now. Employees will receive annual disclosures about their current pension fund investments to make them more secure. They will fight age discrimination for young and old employees.
Affordable Healthcare - Obama and Biden will let governments negotiate for lower drug costs and will not let drug stores block out generic drugs. They are doing this to make prescription drugs cheaper and more affordable. This will help strengthen Medicare and make it so that it is cheaper than other plans.
Protect and Honor Seniors - Barack and Joe will ensure that people who make a low income will have heating and air conditioning through the winter and summer and the government will pay for it. Obama will make it so senior citizens can be more involved in community service if they wish to do so.

Poverty

Most of the 37 million poor Americans are working, but still aren't making enough money to afford what they need. Obama and Biden plan to invent a program that will directely engage a disadvantaged youth to provide them with practical skills. They will improve transportation by making sure additional federal public transportation money is given to communities with the highest need of it. Obama and Biden will work to ensure that ex-offenders have thge oppurtunity to work and attend counseling. They will increase income tax credit for working parents, parents using child support, and families with three or more children. They also plan to raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2011. This way, families earning minimum wage will be able to pay for basic needs like food, transportation, and hosing. They will provide low and middle income works with tax relief and will eliminate taxes for seniors making under $50,000 a year. Obama will strengthen families by promoting responsible fatherhood with teh Responsible Faterhood and Healthy Families Act he will pass, supporting parents with young children by expanding the nurse-family partnership to first time mothers each year, and insuring that all workers have seven paid sick days per year. Obama andn Biden will invent 20 promised neighborhoods in areas with high levels of poverty, crime, and bad education. The Promise Neighborhoods will provide early childhood education, youth violence, prevention efforts, and afterschool activities. They will improve more rural areas by improving their schools and businesses and attreacting more doctors to create a better healthcare system.

Homeland Security

Terrorism - Barack Obama will end the war in Iraq and focus on Afghanistan. They will share their information with other agencies and try to stop terrorists. He will not be frightened by having to take out terrorists and he will make sure our military becomes more stealthy and agile.

Nuclear Terrorism - Obama and Joe Biden will lead a world wide effort to try to secure all nuclear weapons materials within four years. Barack will try to work with other countries to make nuclear fuel from becoming a nuclear bomb. They will set a goal to have a nuclear free world and make treaties with other countries. Barack Obama will appoint someone to be the White House Coordinator for Nuclear Security.

Strengthen U.S. Biosecurity - Obama and Biden will set up an intelligence collection overseas to stop would be terrorists before they can strike. Barack will make sure that we have the tools and communication to be able to manage disease outbreaks by linking hospitals, health care agencies, and public health agencies. He will continue to support international efforts to create new vaccines and medicines cure life threatening diseases.

Protect our Information Networks - Barack will support a next-generation secure computer for national security applications. He will make innovations to software because things are being stolen from American businessmen at a high rate. He will make sure that personal data in your computer is better protected and will better protect our rights.

Improve intelligence capacity - Obama will improve our intelligence system and make it so that even the local intelligence agencies can share information with all the levels of the government. He will install a security program overseas that will improve cooperation between U.S. and foreign intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

Protect Americans from Terrorists Attacks and Natural Disasters - Barack will eliminate the waste, fraud, and abuse that cost us billions of the Department of Homeland Security's dollars. Barack Obama believes that the state and federal governments should work together better and should listen to local concerns and priorities.

Protect Critical Infrastructure - Obama will make sure that companies and people have enough funds for natural disasters and are protected from terrorists attacks. He will provide federal chemical security regulations for chemical plants. We will develop a way so that passengers have their privacy while still being safe from terrorists. He will make our public transportation safer by adding many improvements.

Modernize America's Aging Infrastructure - Barack Obama will make sure that new infrastructure has new and improved security in it. He will update our electrical grid and upgrade highways, railroads, ports, water, and aviation materials. He will prioritize to make our infrastructure stronger than it is today.