Manuel Fonseca
Bleck, English 101
Essay #4
Change We Can Believe in?
Talk is cheap, and actions speak loader than words are two very common phrases in American vocabulary. Barack Obama’s speech on change has been criticized by the media and politicians alike for being all talk and no action the (In Reality) . Change is a word that has been thrown around recently, but what does Obama mean by change? Don’t all presidents change the landscape of politics in one way or another? Many people including Senator John McCain have said that Barack Obama only has one speech and no plan to instill the change he is promising. Brooks Jackson and Kathleen Hall Jamieson write in their book Un-Spun Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation “one or two interesting stories don’t prove anything” (Jackson and Jamieson, 103). This paper intends to prove that not only does Obama have a plan for change, but it is also a viable plan and superior to Senator John McCain’s.

There is no question that many Americans are not covered by any health insurance, and a large number of these Americans are college students who are no longer eligible for coverage under their parent’s heath insurance. Barack Obama has a plan under his mandatory coverage of children that says “Obama will expand the number of options for young adults to get coverage, including allowing young people up to age 25 to continue coverage through their parents' plans” (Plan for a healthy America). This plan would help many American college student that have no coverage keep coverage through their parent’s healthcare plans until they have graduated and can get their own. Some might say that his healthcare plan is all talk, and what has he already done for healthcare? “In 2003, Barack Obama sponsored and passed legislation that expanded health care coverage to 70,000 kids and 84,000 adults. In the U.S. Senate, Obama cosponsored the Healthy Kids Act of 2007 and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Reauthorization Act of 2007 to ensure that more American children have affordable health care coverage” (Plan For a Healthy America). Barack Obama must be elected or else these young adult and children without health insurance will have to try and survive health insurance free until graduation.

Foreign policy has been a hot button topic during many of the debates; one of the biggest questions is how will our next president gain the trust of other nations, and what stand will he take on foreign relations? Barack Obama’s foreign relations policy will help rebuild relationships that were lost under the Bush administration and work to help citizens in other countries combat common things for them like dying from poverty. Obama says “I will lead the world to combat the common threats of the 21st century: nuclear weapons and terrorism; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease. He also says “I will send once more a message to those yearning faces beyond our shores that says, you matter to us. Your future is our future. And our moment is now” ( Barack Obama’s plan). Obama will accomplish his goal by “cutting extreme poverty around the world in half by 2015(Barack Obam’s plan),”and he will “double our foreign assistance to educated communities, reduce poverty, develop markets, and generate wealth” (Barack Obama’s plan). Obama has already taken a stand against warlords like Charles Taylorand one of his goals is to bring him to justice. The steps that Obama has already taken include “On July 19, 2005, Obama passed a bipartisan amendment, to provide $13 million for the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Signed into law in November 2005, the Obama amendment provides critical funding to keep the Court up and running and dramatically enhances efforts to bring Charles Taylor to justice. Taylor was arrested in 2006. His trial began in June 2007 and was postponed until January 2008” (Barack Obama’s plan). Obama’s take on foreign relations is just what this country needs, he will help other nations instead of destroying them, he will bring warlords to justice in a legal way that doesn’t put American soldiers in harms way. Obama’s foreign relations policy is just what America needs to regain credibility without him taking office the US will continue to be a hated nation, and will have no one left in our corner in our time of need.

The most important issue that the future president will have to tackle is the war in Iraq. Obama’s plan calls for a 16 month phased withdrawal from Iraq, and the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki seems to support his plan “Maliki had said Obama's withdrawal proposal could be suitable"(Obama’s Iraq Mission). Obama’s website says “the removal of our troops will be responsible and phased, directed by military commanders on the ground and done in consultation with the Iraqi government” (Plan for ending). “Military experts believe we can safely redeploy combat brigades from Iraq at a pace of 1 to 2 brigades a month that would remove them in 16 months. That would be the summer of 2010 – more than 7 years after the war began” (Plan for ending). This plan works better than keep our troops there for an eternity, Iraq has to learn to take care of Iraq when the phasing out begins Obama will make sure that Iraq is capable of sustainment before the US completely leaves Iraq. Obama also believes that we must help Iraq by increasing our humanitarian efforts in order to help the more than five million refugees in Iraq. “Obama will form an international working group to address this crisis” (Plan for ending). “He will provide at least $2 billion to expand services to Iraqi refugees in neighboring countries, and ensure that Iraqis inside their own country can find sanctuary” (Plan for ending). Obam’s plan will help the Iraqi people regain independence and help the refugees by providing humanitarian support to get them back into there homes and out of harms way. His plan works well for the citizens of Iraq and for Americans as well. Obama’s plan must be enacted in order to have an end to this war, and put America back in good standings with the world.

John McCain’s is the man for the job because of his stance on Iraq; McCain was in favor of the removal of Sadaam from office and he is a firm believer in staying until the job is done. McCain has already made strides in the effectiveness of the war in Iraq when “Al Qaeda in Iraq was on the offensive. Entire provinces were under extremists’ control and were deemed all but lost. At that critical moment, John McCain supported sending reinforcements to Iraq to implement a classic counterinsurgency strategy of securing the population” (Strategy for victory). McCain’s Stratagey paid off and in June 2008 the violence was down 90%, and civilian deaths were down by 70 %( strategy for victory). McCain’s proposal for getting out of Iraq is much more viable than Obama’s, McCain will stay until it is safe to leave he doesn’t want to leave the Iraqis alone and unprepared, this would make innocent Americans have to go back to a war in even worse conditions. The US needs McCain’s plan in order to keep an even worse war from happening and it will under Obama’s plan.

The idea that McCain’s plan is better than Obama’s is not the case. Under McCain’s plan US soldiers would be in Iraq indefinitely, and they would continue to be in harms way. McCain doesn’t have a plan for getting out of Iraq McCain’s plan is a plan of how to stay in Iraq. McCain’s biggest point against Obama’s plan is that we would have to start another war that would be even worse then the one currently in Iraq; the problem with this is that McCain has new war plans of his own he has already joked about bombing Iran and on his website he calls for increased military pressure on Iran and Syria. He says “the answer is for the international community to apply real pressure to Syria and Iran to change their behavior”. “The United States must also bolster its regional military posture to make clear to Iran our determination to protect our forces and deter Iranian intervention” (Strategy for victory). This strategy will potentially cause not one, but two more wars that the US is not involved in. This strategy would take troops from Iraq where they are needed and place them where they are not. McCain’s plan does take troops out of Iraq it just places them into different war situations that the US cannot afford and takes more money from tax payers that could be going to fix our healthcare problem.

In conclusion Obama doesn’t just speak of change he has a plan to instill it. Obama’s plan for the resurrection of healthcare in this country will be life saving to many Americans who are not covered by health insurance. Obama will help the American people take back their good name that has been tarnished by our current administration with his foreign relations plan. He will also contribute to saving the lives of citizens of the countries that suffer from extreme poverty. Finally he will set a date for the beginning of the removal of US troops from Iraq which stops the needless killing of American troops. If Obama is not elected we not see any positive changes by McCain only new wars and less human rights for all countries and their citizens. Obama speaks of change and he also delivers with a point by point plan for how this change will take effect.

Works Cited
Anonymous. "In reality, news media not 'fawning' over Obama." USA Today 12 AUG 2008.ProQues.
"BARACK OBAMA’S PLAN TO SECURE AMERICA AND RESTORE OUR STANDING." 2008. http://www.barackobama.com. 2008 .
Dionne, E J jr. "Obama's Iraq Mission." The Washington Post 22 July 2008. Proquest.
Jackson, Brooks/Jamieson,Kathleen. Un-Spun Finding Facts in a World of Diinformation. United States: Random House Publishing Group, 2007.
"Plan for a Healthy America." 2008. http://www.barackobama.com. 2008 .
"Plan for Ending the War in Iraq." 2008. http://www.barackobama.com. 2008 .
"Strategy for Victory in Iraq ." 2008. johnmccain.com. 2008 .