I'm extremely excited about the prospect of Obama in the white house because it seems that he will be actually champion the alternative energy cause. In my opinion, this is the most important issue facing america because the importance of many other issues derives from this one issue (e.g., our role in the middle east, trade imbalance, global warming, etc...).

I also like that obama will further a policy of fairness in our global trade.

HOWEVER, at the same time, his trade policy worries me. I want fair trade which means that if foreign companies have unrestricted access to US markets, US companies will have unrestricted access to foreign markets. We also need to ensure that the standard of living for the average person in the borders of our trading partners increases from our cross border trade so that the competitive advantage they have in cheap labor will diminish in time.

Additionally, I am deeply concerned about Obama's tax policies. I see nothing wrong with allowing Bush's irresponsible tax cuts to lapse, however, all this talk about a refundable credit for those not even paying taxes has me a little worried. I see this as highly irresponsible because our budget is so far in the red this will do nothing to restore fiscal responsibility.

I am interested to know which of obama's policies worry some of us obama supporters.

Pakistan.

Not for the reasons that McCain has given (isn't McCain broadcasting the fact that he'd make incursions into Pakistan by insisting "I'd do it, but I wouldn't say I'd do it!"), but because I think that how we handle Pakistan will reverberate in far more profound ways than Iraq did.

Obama may be coming off more hawkish to bolster his toughness, but I think he's a bit too belligerant on Pakistan.

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Also, his revoking support for international development assistance designed to reach the Millennium Development Goals literally had me frothing at the mouth a few weeks ago.

No wonder America isn't trusted when we continue to break promises to the rest of the world.

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I don't like his lefty tilt on economics at all, but I'm willing to tolerate it if it means getting rid of the neocons. The republican party needs a huge loss to purge out the big government warmongers. Once they are destroyed, we can start worrying about economic policy.

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Originally posted by Lebezniatnikov Also, his revoking support for international development assistance designed to reach the Millennium Development Goals literally had me frothing at the mouth a few weeks ago. No wonder America isn't trusted when we continue to break promises to the rest of the world.

i agree that we should adhere to our promises, but what do you propose we cut so that we can fund those programs? Obviously you are going to say military spending, but is there anything else?

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Originally posted by Lebezniatnikov Pakistan. Not for the reasons that McCain has given (isn't McCain broadcasting the fact that he'd make incursions into Pakistan by insisting "I'd do it, but I wouldn't say I'd do it!"), but because I think that how we handle Pakistan will reverberate in far more profound ways than Iraq did. Obama may be coming off more hawkish to bolster his toughness, but I think he's a bit too belligerant on Pakistan.

i agree here as well. I don't think he is entirely serious.


do you disagree with any domestic policies?

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Originally posted by jerZ07002 i agree that we should adhere to our promises, but what do you propose we cut so that we can fund those programs? Obviously you are going to say military spending, but is there anything else?

We don't have to cut much - international development assistance is a shot in a barrel right now - I just propose we make it two shots.

And there's a lot we can decrease costs in - administrative costs all across government, closing tax loopholes, getting out of Iraq, re-distributing foreign assistance to actual target places it will be effective (de-militarizing foreign assistance would be a novel place to start).

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Originally posted by jerZ07002 i agree here as well. I don't think he is entirely serious. do you disagree with any domestic policies?

As a proud product of the public school system, charter schools make me nervous. I think we need a President who will get serious about evaluating what works and what doesn't in public education - more funding would be nice, but more important is better monitoring and evaluation - quality control with teachers, etc.

I don't think Obama is giving education policy anywhere near the attention it deserves.

That said, I have no problem with his healthcare or tax policy, the two areas of domestic policy that most people are all up in a tizzy about.

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The public education in the US costs taxpayers 896billion dollars a year. That is a huge amount, basically US schools do not need more funding. Their should probably be more distribution, though.

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Originally posted by Lebezniatnikov As a proud product of the public school system, charter schools make me nervous. I think we need a President who will get serious about evaluating what works and what doesn't in public education - more funding would be nice, but more important is better monitoring and evaluation - quality control with teachers, etc. I don't think Obama is giving education policy anywhere near the attention it deserves. That said, I have no problem with his healthcare or tax policy, the two areas of domestic policy that most people are all up in a tizzy about.

the problem is public education is not federally controlled. I would like to see greater access to federal grants for college education. or perhaps more strings attached (to widen financial access to the school) to federal grants given to private universities.

I want America to withdraw from both Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama wants to send in extra combat brigades to Afghanistan which is a complete waste of our resources.

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Originally posted by Krypton I want America to withdraw from both Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama wants to send in extra combat brigades to Afghanistan which is a complete waste of our resources.

what about domestic policies? we all know your stance on those issues.