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What Would You Ask Senator Obama?
I'd like to second Kate Shepherd's sentiment over at TAPPED. She writes, "Time has an interview with Obama that really could use some better questions..." Time offered up seven less than thought-provoking questions, so uninspiring in fact that I was moved to poll several of my fellow Mother Jones edit staffers for some better queries. Here's a few we came up with:
1. Why does your health insurance plan include mandates for kids, but not adults?
2. Ethanol is increasingly viewed as a wasteful form of fuel that sacrifices nourishment for gasoline. How would you move the U.S. away from defaulting to ethanol as an alternative fuel and towards cleaner, more sustainable options?
3. What's the first question you'd ask Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?
It's fairly frustrating when the people with the best access to the candidates aren't delivering.
What would you ask Obama? Tell us, in the comments.
Why do you want to cut back funding for the space program and set back current projects 5 years, while the EU, Russia, China, India, and Japan are all in the midst of a new "space race"? China recently shot down one of it's own satellites in a test. Next time, it could be one of our vital communications links. Is NOW really the time to cut back on the space program?
(healthcare, Iraq, energy/global warming and the economy are more important to me, but those all seem over-asked)
Please define the "audacity of hope."
Why is "separate but equal" okay for gay and lesbian American citizens, when we know it was not okay for our fellow citizens in other contexts in the last century? (The Senator favors "civil unions", whatever those are, but not marriage rights for gay and lesbian United States citizens....)
I think that the ethanol question is very valid; however it was not worded properly (probably because the people at Time don't know the difference). They should have specifically asked about CORN based ethanol.
And that is probably the question that I would ask. This country is about to get green-washed by ADB, Dow and Cargil and no one seems to care. The bigger problem is that people lack the intelligence scientifically to understand the problem. After all, energy balance is essentially a discussion in fractions and (in the words of Malibu Stacy) "Math is hard".
Senator Clinton's mandatory health care plan will force taxpayers to hand over billions of dollars to publicly traded, for profit health insurance companies. These companies are notorious for making their profits by refusing to pay for doctor prescribed care.
How is your plan different or will it too be a windfall for private health insurance companies? Also, how will your plan end this unethical practice of denying to pay for care?
The purpose of insurance is to collect a pool of money sent in by a group of contributors that is to then be disbursed as the need arises. Private, for profit health insurance companies have a legal obligation to maximize profits for their shareholders. They do this by denying to pay for care prescribed by it's contributor's doctors.
Instead of handing over billions of taxpayer dollars to these unethical private insurance companies, why can't the government enlist a non-profit organization to collect and pool taxpayer dollars to run a new Federally Guaranteed Health Insurance Program?
Over decades, the American taxpayers have spent hundreds of billions of dollars constructing and maintaining our roads and Interstate Highways. Are you for or against the selling off or leasing of our roads to foreign corporations? What will you do to stop it?
I would ask him why he supports S. 1959: Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007. This bill violates almost every part of the First Amendment.
For decades, there has been much talk on both sides of the aisle about fundamentally changing the way the Federal Government collects revenues.
As President, If a bill came to your desk to abolish the Federal Income Tax in favor of a 1% Federal Sales Tax, with exemptions for certain items such as food and energy, would you consider signing it?
Is there a difference between partisanship and ideology?
Where will the nuclear waste be stored if not at Yucca Mountain?
Why did you defend Mayor Daley against charges of corruption?
How will keeping poor folks in their same neighborhoods free them from the cycles of poverty?
How did growing up in Hawaii prepare you for college?
Songs In The Key Of Life or Innervisions?
You are fond of noting that you are a Christian. The Sixth Commandment of course dictates that "Thou shalt not kill." Accordingly, are you willing to publicly renounce bombing and invasion--i.e., state-sponsored terrorism--as a means to further U.S. foreign policies?
Why don't you and Johnny Edwards team up to take down Clinton, because right now you are just splitting the votes of the forward-thinking Americans (I mean, those that aren't supporting Denny)?
I would ask Obama why he feels he should get secret service protection which is paid for by taxpayers. All canidates get threats. Hillary has gotten some of the worst. Taxpayers should not have to pay for his secret service. All candidates should hire body-guards with their own campaign funds. If Obama gets special funds from taxpayers for secret service, all the candidates should.
I'd ask Obama & any other candy date "What the heck are you gonna do to fix all the things about America that Bush broke? Are you going to restore our Constitutional rights soon? Maybe do something to reduce the assumed powers of the executive branch that didn't really exist before Bush said they did? Are you at least going to do away with 'signing statements' ?"
Question for Obama:
Will you reverse all of the new powers Bush has assumed through executive order, signing statement, memo or directive? If not what unitary powers would the Obama administration keep and why?
1. Exactly what foreign experience have you had while in Congress (needed to counter Ms. Clinton's charge of inexperience) and on what committees have you served that had anything to do with foreign affairs?
2. What are you going to do about the Medicare Part D mess that is so confusing to seniors--especially those with no computer at home!!!!
3. What kind of balanced outlook do you bring to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Peace is not going to be easy in that region. How will you avoid looking pro-either side?
Why don't you offer to revolutionize campaign finance by cutting back your support staff to a bare minimum, running on your own ideas alone, and then donating the leftover campaign contributions to a worthwhile cause, e.g. healthcare, joblessness, the environment, education? It takes just one of you to do something extraordinary to force the hand of the rest to fall in line behind you.
As an 'agent of change' what is Senator Obama's position on asking the FCC to propose rate-breaks for political advertising, so that our electoral system isn't paying profit-driven Madison Avenue prices?
How about expanding C-SPAN to a fourth channel, mandating that all local, state, and federal political campaigns pay standard production costs to the state chapter of the already non-profit CSPAN corporation?
Mr. Obama: You have said that you would seek a more even handed approch when dealing with the middle east. What does that mean?
Mr. Obama: You are the only candidate, Republican or Democrat, that I have never seen with an american flag pin. Is there a reason for that?
Mr. Obama: What are your positions on oil drilling in the ANWR, offshore and ressurecting coal as fuel?
Mr. Obama: What SPECIFIC steps would you take in bringing the dollar back into focus; i.e. making the dollar strong again.
Mr. Obama: Would you favor an 8% sales tax as a method to pay for a national health care system that would insure all Americans & give them a choice in selecting their own plan?
Many people are talking about the mess within the mortgage industury, but no one has mentioned the mess in the banking and finance industury. What would you do about the taticts used by the banks to extract excessive penalties and fees? Would you re-enact some new form of a usuery law?
SENATOR ABAMA AND SENATOR CLINTON, NAME 1 COUNTRY THAT WE HAVE OCCUPIED THAT WE HAVE PULLED OUT OF. KOREA STILL THERE GERMANY STILL THERE AND SO NAME ME ONE
SORRY I MEANT OBAMA NOT ABAMA
Senator Obama:
You proudly say you voted against intervening in Iraq where over 27 million lived under Fascism,
death squads, and genocide of over a million; where eco-terrorism destroyed 12,000 sq. miles of wetlands, endangered more than 40 species, and caused the extinction of at least 7.
Will you now pledge to keep America out of Kenya and Darfur which pale by comparison to the atrocities of pre-liberated Iraq?
If Obama is so great. Why dont he do something about the GAS, before the price of Gas is $8.00 per gallon. All of this time he has said nothing are done anything about the GAS. Are is he afraid the will hunt his friends.
I just would like to know what Obama if elected is going to do about the polar bears and bush letting oil companies go to alaska for oil land is know alowing the companies to harm a few bears for oil also the walrus. I would like to know if he was elected if he would over turn that fat oiler's decision?
Does Senator Obama believe that the capture or death of Osama Bin Laden will end the war on terror?
Would you consider letting a person who needs " gap " medical coverage buy into Medicare at age 55 in return for accepting a reduced Social Security payout at 62.
Your comments appreciated
What do you intend to do about welfare fraud