Today, U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) will be announcing a bold plan to balance the federal budget in four years and reform the huge entitlement programs Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. For decades, these programs are considered part of the “third rail” of American politics and have been seen as too explosive to handle, thereby resistant to reform. When President Bush started his second term he announced grandiose plans to reform social security; however, those plans went nowhere in the face of extreme opposition.
Today, McCain will also call for a “spending pause” of one year, a much needed freeze on discretionary programs. In addition, he is boasting an aggressive plan for oil and gas exploration. In the last few weeks, McCain changed his position on offshore drilling and he now supports a plan to give coastal states the right to approve drilling off their shores. He is also calling for the construction of 45 new nuclear plants by 2030.
In contrast, presumptive Democratic nominee U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) opposes aggressive construction of new nuclear energy plants and opening more areas for offshore drilling. Instead, Obama’s policy focuses on increased conservation, more funding for alternative sources of energy and plans to increase taxation of domestic oil companies. These plans are typical Democratic Party “solutions” for our nation’s energy crisis.
While Obama is playing it safe and sticking to the liberal playbook, McCain is addressing a host of politically explosive issues. For example, the entitlement programs are known as a “political danger zone” because so many Americans depend on these entitlement programs. However, almost all Americans must realize that these programs need to be reformed immediately.
McCain has a long history as a maverick reformer who is willing to tackle difficult issues such as pork barrel spending and questionable federal earmarks. He is exactly the type of candidate who can make some progress on the difficult question of how to reform entitlement programs. If these programs are not reformed, the federal deficit will continue to skyrocket. In contrast, Democratic U.S. Senator Barack Obama has not offered any solutions to the entitlement dilemma.
To curb spending, McCain will “reserve all savings from victory in the Iraq and Afghanistan operations in the fight against Islamic extremists for reducing the deficit...” The current budget deficit is approximately $410 billion, mostly due to spending involving homeland security and the wars overseas.
These proposals while novel for a presidential candidate could cause political problems for McCain. Democrats will likely demagogue the issue and make it very costly for McCain to pursue this course of action. Hopefully, McCain will continue to offer innovative solutions to these issues throughout the campaign. In my view, this is his only chance to win the presidency. We need to reform our entitlement programs, boost our energy resources and control our budget deficit. Today, he made a big step toward convincing the American people that he is the best candidate to address these major issues.
Jeff Crouere is a native of New Orleans, LA and he is the host of a Louisiana based program, “Ringside Politics,” which airs at 7:30 p...m. Fri. and 10:00 p.m. Sun. on WLAE-TV 32, a PBS station, and 7 till 11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990 AM in New Orleans and the Northshore. For more information, visit his web site at www.ringsidepolitics.com. E-mail him at jeff@ringsidepolitics.com.
Jindal has LIED, and that is That!!! No one can ever resurrect themselves from the flames of having lied and everyone knew and knows it!!! The people of this state must REMEMBER these lies about first of all, the Legislators' Raises, which he finally vetoed, and secondly, he was definitely against doing away with the Stelly Tax Plan, then he "turned around" and favored it, and even claimed it as one of his accomplishments, but, OH, too Late, Jindal, you are on your way for the third and last strike---just one more LIE, which I'm sure you've already done, but it is just that I have no immediated knowledge of it, but there will be more LIES, citizens and voters of this state---JUST YOU WATCH WHAT I SAY!!! Sidney Touchet... Written by Sidney Touchet
on 7/8/2008
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RhettsWife, Darlin', tu connais que je t'aime beaucoup, mais I would love for you to explain to me how it is that the GOP gets its reputation as the stalwart defenders of the nation's purse? It doesn't take much research to discover that the GOP wastes more money on defense contractors and runs up deficits as high as the eye can see in order to give the wealthiest of the wealthy hefty tax cuts - all because we should be grateful to those rich rascals, because as some buzzers here have noted "poor folks don't sign your paychecks." The Republicans are much less responsible than the Democrats when it comes to government spending - they just have different (and to my mind, wrong) priorities. McCain seems a genuine fellow, and I think the country would have been better off had not the GWB campaign smears against him worked in 2000 - he certainly would have been a better president than Chimpy McFlightsuit. However, we have had nearly eight years of failed Republican policies and it is time to change directions. Ask yourself about Bush and Cheney's war - about Bush and Cheney's deficits - about Bush and Cheney's friends who are enriching themselves on our tax dollars. Ask yourself about our nation's financial health. We are borrowing the money from China, from Japan, to pay for these wars - do you and Rhett have children? Grandchildren? Well, then you need to think about them - they'll be paying Bush's debts. Here's a better ditty for you - "Voting for McCain is More of the Same." Moi je connais bien que je va voter pour Obama le novembre qui vient. Ça c'est tout. TW Written by Tee Dub
on 7/8/2008
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McCain must explain his intentions more specifically and stick to them. If the Democrats continue to spend money unwisely, we will have to deal with them again and again. Let them learn from what the people in Louisiana did with the payraises. Oh yes, there will be the naysayers who claim that a recall is impossible. An enraged citizenship can create quite a lot of problems for elected officials as we have seen here and will see come election time. Now is the time to listen carefully and analyze and make demands for clarification and for honesty and for the respect that is due all citizens. We believe now that this nation will only Gain with McCain. Obama is a lost cause. Written by RhettsWife
on 7/8/2008
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It's too bad that McCain did not pull any actual numbers of where exactly he is going to cut spending and demonstrate and prove out how exactly he is going to balance the budget. This world needs less gimmickry and less vague talk. Some actual concrete plans would be nice, at least for the rest of us to study and see for ourselves whether they make sense. Written by Richard P.
on 7/7/2008
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I agree that we need to "...reform our entitlement programs, boost our energy resources and control our budget deficit" however both parties will have to co-operate for this to happen. Just as it took the American consumer to run into the "brick wall" of $4 a gallon gas to make changes to the way we use fuel I fear it will also take a "crises" before we act responsibly on such matters as entitlement spending and energy policy. A couple of weeks ago I heard someone on CNBC describe our energy policy as "get our oil from the Arabs" - we can do better than that, IMHO. I am quite frankly amazed that Obama and other Democrats parrot the "more drilling won't pay off for ‘x’ number of years" statement. True perhaps, similarly a smoker may not benefit from quitting “for years” – it would still be a wise thing for that person to do “now.” However long term it may take to realize the benefits of increased production and refining along with alternative sources of power (nuclear being the most promising) does not mean it would be unwise to take the appropriate steps ASAP. Unfortunately our politicians instead give us “ethanol” which increases pollution along with higher gasoline prices – it’s safe to say we haven’t hit the energy “brick wall” yet. Written by ....and Nero fiddles on.
on 7/7/2008
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Today, U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) will be announcing a bold plan to balance the federal budget in four years and reform the huge entitlement programs Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. For decades, these programs are considered part of the “third rail” of American politics and have been seen as too explosive to handle, thereby resistant to reform. When President Bush started his second term he announced grandiose plans to reform social security; however, those plans went nowhere in the face of extreme opposition. 
