Meet the Candidates

Barack Obama

Age: 46

Hometown: Honolulu, HI

Party Affiliation: Democrat

Career Highlights: Junior Senator from Illinois from 2005 to present, Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004; first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review

RS Fun Fact: Obama's first book, Dreams of My Father, won a Grammy award for Best Spoken Word Album in 2006.

Major Positions

Iraq

Obama has been vocal about opposing the war since its start; that said, he was in the Illinois State Senate — not the United States Senate — when the votes were cast in 2002. He has rejected President Bush's troop-surge proposal as "another tried and failed policy," and instead favors a phased redeployment of troops throughout Iraq, centered on a revamped political strategy.

Compare Positions: John McCain

Climate Change

He's pledged a cap-and-trade system to "dramatically" reduce carbon emissions in the United States and wants a worldwide strategy to lower emissions with binding commitments from the countries that pollute the most. Obama also co-sponsored the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act and the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act of 2007 designed to chop carbon emissions by thirty percent by 2050.

Compare Positions: John McCain

Health Care

Obama says that "the reason people don't have health insurance isn't because they don't want it, it's because they can't afford it." His goal is to reduce the corporate profits of insurance and pharmaceutical companies to drive down costs for lower-income and already-covered families. He is, however, mandating health care for children. His plan would be paid for by rolling back President Bush's tax cuts on individuals earning $250,000 a year or more and through contributions from "all but the smallest businesses" to cover their employees.

Compare Positions: John McCain

War On Terror

Obama's gone further than his peers with his approach to the global war on terror. He's proposed redeploying troops from Iraq to Afghanistan and (notably) Pakistan — with or without Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's consent. As president, he said he would meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad without any preconditions, yet says a military operation there is not out of the question.

Compare Positions: John McCain

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RS Poll

John McCain's greatest liability among Republican voters is:

  • His pro-amnesty position on immigration
  • His steadfast support for the Iraq war and President Bush's foreign policy
  • His date of birth

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