For Those Who Missed This Speech...

I noticed on a another friends blog that someone didn't understand what Barack Obama was running his election on or if he had taken a stand with particular proposals. In his acceptance speech last week he took a huge risk and laid out his goals. If one didn't watch the whole speech...you wouldn't know what a dynamic and intense group of issues he dealt with...I had expected him to give a soft speech, instead he gave a very determined and forthright speech with a lot of specifics. He called out McCain and he laid down his own mission statement. Here are some of the particulars...

I also think, if he gets elected, people need to remember this part of his speech and hold him to it. And make changes in their own lives and communities to support these particular changes he wants to make. This is why I think it's so important to keep track of what politicians say they are going to do and then follow up. The most important aspect is "how to pay for the proposals"...and people will have to stop allowing the 1% rich population and corporations avoid taxes, pay luxury taxes, and finding loopholes. People will have to approach their stores and tell the managers they refuse to buy products not made in the U.S.A. Those are challenges to corporations that Obama proposed and lifestyle changes in consumers and employees to enforce that I think are needed in order to make more jobs and make the U.S. economy stronger. Are people really ready to make those demands in their own lifestyles?

Taxes:

Change means a tax code that doesn't reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it.

Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America.

I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the startups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow.

I will cut taxes — cut taxes — for 95 percent of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle class.

Health Care:

Now is the time to finally keep the promise of affordable, accessible health care for every single American. If you have health care, my plan will lower your premiums. If you don't, you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves. And as someone who watched my mother argue with insurance companies while she lay in bed dying of cancer, I will make certain those companies stop discriminating against those who are sick and need care the most.

Now is the time to help families with paid sick days and better family leave, because nobody in America should have to choose between keeping their jobs and caring for a sick child or ailing parent.

Energy:

And for the sake of our economy, our security and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as president: In 10 years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.

Washington's been talking about our oil addiction for the last 30 years, and John McCain has been there for 26 of them. In that time, he's said no to higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars, no to investments in renewable energy, no to renewable fuels. And today, we import triple the amount of oil as the day that Sen. McCain took office.

As president, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology and find ways to safely harness nuclear power. I'll help our auto companies retool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America. I'll make it easier for the American people to afford these new cars. And I'll invest $150 billion over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy — wind power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels; an investment that will lead to new industries and 5 million new jobs that pay well and can't ever be outsourced.

Education:

Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world-class education, because it will take nothing less to compete in the global economy. Michelle and I are only here tonight because we were given a chance at an education. And I will not settle for an America where some kids don't have that chance. I'll invest in early childhood education. I'll recruit an army of new teachers and pay them higher salaries and give them more support. And in exchange, I'll ask for higher standards and more accountability. And we will keep our promise to every young American: If you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford a college education.

How to pay for it:

Now, many of these plans will cost money, which is why I've laid out how I'll pay for every dime — by closing corporate loopholes and tax havens that don't help America grow. But I will also go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less — because we cannot meet 21st-century challenges with a 20th-century bureaucracy.