John McCain vs. Barack Obama

John Sidney McCain III

Born: 29 August 1936
Birthplace: Panama Canal Zone
Best Known As: The 2008 Republican candidate for president


McCain was born on August 29, 1936, in the Panama Canal Zone. He was one of three children born to John S. McCain Jr. and his wife, Roberta. McCain's father and grandfather were both admirals in the United States Navy, the first father and son serving at that rank in naval history. After bouncing from school to school in the tradition of a child of a military family, McCain was sent to high school at the elite Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia and graduated in 1954.
After graduation McCain went off to follow the family trade at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. McCain graduate in the bottom five of his class in 1958. Even after being accepted to train as a naval aviator.



Barack Hussein Obama

Barack Obama (born August 4, 1961) is a U.S. Senator from Illinois. He is a member of the main Democratic Party.


When Obama was ten he returned to Hawaii under the care of his grandparents, and later his mother, for the better educational opportunities. He was enrolled in the fifth grade at Punahou School, a prestigious academy that once taught the Hawaiian royal family. He graduated with honors.


When Obama was ten he returned to Hawaii under the care of his grandparents, and later his mother, for the better educational opportunities. He was enrolled in the fifth grade at Punahou School, a prestigious academy that once taught the Hawaiian royal family. He graduated with honors.



McCain vs. Obama on Personal Attributes
Six months before the general election, public perceptions of the relative strengths and weaknesses of presumptive Republican nominee John McCain and Democratic front-runner Barack Obama are relatively static, though recent shifts on leadership, empathy and personal ethics hint at the battles to come.


The two months of campaigning in the time since we last checked in on perceptions of these two candidates have done little to change minds. In comparing McCain and Obama on eight key candidate attributes in the new Washington Post-ABC News poll, McCain continues to be seen as the more experienced candidate and the one with better knowledge of world affairs, while Obama is broadly seen as the one who would do more to affect change, with the better personality for the job and with a clearer vision for the future.


But the two candidates have become more evenly matched on the question of who is the stronger leader and who has higher personal and ethical standards. Obama erased McCain's double-digit edge as the stronger leader (in the new poll, Obama also for the first time bests Hillary Clinton, his rival for the Democratic nomination, on this measure), while McCain closed a 12-point gap as the candidate with higher personal and ethical standards.


And on personal and ethical standards, more than one in five partisans are "cross-overs," choosing the other party's standard bearer as the one with higher standards. Obama cedes more than a third of Clinton supporters on this question, while McCain surrenders a quarter of conservatives.



Health Care



Barack Obama’s plan for better health care in America is to provide quality, affordable and portable coverage for all. He plans to make available a new national health plan to all U.S. citizens, which will include the self-employed and small businesses. Some of the features his plan include:
Guaranteed Eligibility. This will allow sick people (with recent and pre-existing conditions) to obtain health care.


Comprehensive Benefits. This is similar to the package offered through Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. It will cover all necessary medical services, which include preventive, maternity and mental health care.


Affordability. There will be lower premiums, co-pays and deductibles.


Simpler paperwork and reined in health costs.
Public Plan with simple enrollment and ready access to coverage.


Portability and Choice. People enrolled in the new public plan and the National Health Insurance Exchange (another Obama plan) will be able to move from job to job without jeopardizing insurance coverage.



Quality and Efficiency. The health insurance companies participating in the new plan will be required to report data to ensure that standards for quality are met.



John McCain intends to increase the variety and affordability of health insurance to families in America by fostering innovation and competition. This is how he plans to do so:
By reforming tax code to eliminate the bias toward employer-sponsored health coverage and providing everyone with a $2,500 tax credit; families will receive $5,000. This will increase incentives for health care coverage.


Allowing families to purchase health care insurance nationwide to maximize choices and heighten competition.


Providing multi-year coverage that moves with you from job to job and from home to home.


Requiring states with Medicaid to develop a financial risk adjustment bonus to high-cost and low income families that will supplement tax credits and funds for Medicaid.


Allowing people to purchase insurance through any organization or association of choice (i.e. churches, employers, individual purchases, and professional associations). The policy chosen will be available to small businesses and the self-employed; and will be portable across jobs. It will also automatically bridge the time between Medicare eligibility and retirement. Certification and rigorous standards would have to be met before plans are approved.



Terrorism

Obama

In the early part of his campaign, Obama funneled many of his comments about the "war on terrorism" through his concerns with human and civil rights issues that it has raised. His campaign website establishes both small weapons proliferation and potential nuclear terrorism as significant U.S. priorities.



Obama responded in strong terms to the passage of the Military Commissions Act in September 2006, which granted the Bush Administration wide latitude to define what would constitute the torture of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.



Once he all-but-gained the nomination in the early summer of 2008, Obama became much more specific about his objectives regarding the 'war on terror.' In July, Obama told audiences that the war in Afghanistan and the potential of a nuclear Iran were high on his list.



McCain

McCain primarily identifies terrorism with "violent Islamist extremism," especially as manifested in Al Qaeda. McCain believes Al Qaeda continues to represent a significant threat to U.S. security. His solution includes ensuring quality intelligence, being protected against attack and being able to respond to an attack quickly.


America faces a dedicated, focused, and intelligent foe in the war on terrorism. This enemy will probe tto find America's weaknesses and strike against them. The United States cannot afford to be complacent about the threat, naive about terrorist intentions, unrealistic about their capabilities, or ignorant to our national vulnerabilities.


McCain advocates high tech solutions to increase military capabilities, such as missile defense and other advanced weapons systems, an increase in the size of the U.S. armed forces, and doctrinal change to confront 21st century warfare. Many of his ideas for reform echo those of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and others in the defense establishment who advocate (as McCain does, on his website), "a new mix of military forces, including civil affairs, special operations, and highly mobile forces …"



Jobs

Democrat Barack Obama said Wednesday that as president he would spend $210 billion to create jobs in construction and environmental industries, as he tried to win over economically struggling voters.
Obama's investment would be over 10 years as part of two programs. The larger is $150 billion to create 5 million so-called "green collar" jobs to develop more environmentally friendly energy sources.
Sixty billion would go to a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank to rebuild highways, bridges, airports and other public projects. Obama estimated that could generate nearly 2 million jobs, many of them in the construction industry that's been hit by the housing crisis.
"This agenda is paid for," Obama said as the Republican National Committee promoted an "Obama Spend-O-Meter" online to track his proposals and portray him as a tax-and-spend liberal. Obama explained that the money for his spending proposals will come from ending the Iraq war, cutting tax breaks for corporations, taxing carbon pollution and raising taxes on high income earners.



McCain Voted Against a Clean Minimum Wage Increase for Working Families. McCain voted with the Republicans in 2007 to stall a clean minimum wage increase for working families—before bowing to public pressure and voting to pass the final bill that included tax breaks for businesses. He even voted to completely repeal the minimum wage laws in 45 states and allow the other five states to opt out of any future minimum wage increases above $5.15 an hour.

McCain Voted Against Protections for Workers’ Overtime Rights. McCain voted against protecting workers’ overtime pay from Bush administration rules that threaten the overtime rights of 6 million workers.