To review, les rules:
1) 200 words or less
2) Starts with either the phrase "I am the only candidate who" or "Unlike Candidates X, Y, and Z, I" (must be at least three candidates you differ from).
3) Must contain a policy point in the first sentence.
The point? To tease out the policy differences in a campaign where the media has not done that.
The reason? First, we have to decide between these candidates, and while policy is not always the major differentiator, it does play a role. Second, every four years the primary acts as testbed for policy proposals. It's incredibly important we not make it merely a parade of personalities. Tsongas may have lost in 1992, but he got the issue of the deficit on the map.
The third and most important reason? Engaging the public in policy debates makes America stronger.
Want to build a better campaign? Come up with some soundbites.
Want to build a better citizen? Engage them in the policy debate. Let them know the why AND the how.
To the extent the different campaigns have done that below, thank you. You guys rock.
So, without further ado, in the order received....
From the Obama campaign:
I am the only candidate to lay out a comprehensive vision for how to rebuild the military and responsibly use it to keep America safe in the 21st century. Today, our forces are overstretched and inadequately equipped after fighting a war that should never have been authorized and should never have been waged. Therefore, our armed forces need to be made ready to confront the complex threats of the 21st century. As President, I will commit the resources to ensure our armed forces are prepared for these 21st century threats, beginning with a top-to-bottom reassessment of all weapons programs in light of current needs, gaps in the field, and potential threat scenarios. That means providing service members with first-rate equipment, armor, incentives, and training-including in foreign languages and other critical skills. As President, I will add 65,000 soldiers to the Army and 27,000 Marines. At the same time, we need to improve mission readiness for the National Guard. This century's threats are as dangerous and in many ways more complex than those we have confronted in the past. Restoring American leadership requires a military prepared to meet these new challenges. As President, I will ensure that our defense remains second to none.
From the Gravel campaign:
I am the only candidate besides Representative Kucinich who will actually reduce military spending. America spends more on defense than the rest of the world put together. This in spite of the fact that our educational and healthcare systems are broken, the physical infrastructure of our nation is under funded, and we are not dealing with climate change and the looming energy crisis.
There is no limit to the demands of the military industrial complex, evidenced by calls for increased military spending on top of already gargantuan levels. In my opinion, the other Democratic candidates, with the exception of Dennis Kucinich, are all tied to the continuation of this system.
This is why I have proposed the National Initiative for Democracy which will break the hammerlock of special interests by making voters lawmakers. By allowing American voters the opportunity to make binding laws directly, we can reorder our priorities. With the National Initiative for Democracy, we can have better education, affordable healthcare for all Americans, an end to unnecessary foreign wars, and the ability to solve the critical issues facing our nation.
From the Kucinich campaign:
I am the only candidate to call for at least a 15% reduction in the bloated Pentagon budget. The Pentagon has never passed an independent audit. They have over 1100 separate accounting systems; people don?t know where the money goes. We've looked at waste and fraud, there's no question we could save a minimum of 15%, with no affect on national security. There's waste building weapons in outer space; new nuclear weapons; a missile shield when even those who have studied it admit there's fraud involved in development. This has nothing to do with fighting terror, or making us more secure. By spending more on the military than the rest of the world combined we continue one of the great frauds on Americans that we?re more secure by spending more for the military while we ignore the other needs. War doesn?t make us strong. When we shift the paradigm of this country towards peace, then we start to have the resources which must be there for education, health care, renewable energy, a healthy environment, and clean elections. Any investment we make in the people to rebuild their faith in themselves and their government is an issue of national security too.
From the Edwards campaign:
I am the only candidate who has proposed a bold approach to end not just wasteful military spending but to reform our entire budget for national security. I have proposed creating a national security budget to save taxpayer money and have more effective military spending. Today, dozens of agencies perform overlapping tasks. There is no central, overall accounting of all security activities performed by all relevant agencies. We have nuclear proliferation programs in the Defense, State, and Energy departments, and more than 15 different security assistance programs, running out of both the State Department and the Pentagon. As president, I will create a national security budget that will include all security programs at the Pentagon and the Department of Energy, as well as our homeland security, intelligence, and foreign affairs agencies--which will eliminate wasteful and counterproductive overlaps, and gather all of our resources behind a unified strategy. I will also direct my Secretary of Defense to launch a modern-day equivalent of the famous Truman Committee from the 1940?s, with a comprehensive, tough review of fraud, waste, and abuse. Finally, almost half of Defense Department contracts are now awarded on a noncompetitive basis, giving companies like Halliburton millions of dollars. As president, I will completely overhaul the rules governing privatization to save taxpayer dollars, put an end to cronyism, and better protect the United States.
From the Dodd campaign:
"I am the only candidate with a plan that will both end the war in Iraq and redirect the billions that we are spending on war to improving military readiness. In particular, my plan will help fund our National Guard units, which have experienced longer deployments and equipment shortages due to the war. I will also use the funds currently being spent in Iraq to invest in domestic priorities, such as a plan to provide universal, affordable health care.
"In addition, I strongly believe that American defense jobs should be kept on American soil. That is why I have worked to reduce the use of so-called "offset contracts" in military contracting ? a practice by which foreign governments purchase major weapon systems from U.S. companies, but only if the American company agrees to buy goods or services from that country."
From the Richardson Campaign:
I am the only major Presidential candidate who believes that we must remove all our troops from Iraq. There should be no residual US forces left in Iraq. Our continued presence in Iraq only fuels the insurgency, strengthens Al Qaeda, and enables the Iraqi factions to delay making the hard political choices needed to end the civil war. Our troops have become targets. There is no military solution in Iraq.
We must begin the process of cutting spending on the Iraq war. We are coming up on half a trillion dollars spent there. The money we are spending in Iraq needs to be spent on rebuilding our military, restoring our troops? morale and readiness, and domestic issues here at home such as health care.
From the Biden Campaign:
I am the only candidate who has made good on this commitment: so long as we have a single soldier in Iraq, we will make sure he or she has the best protection this country can provide, which is why I voted for the emergency spending bill for Iraq. The bill provides money to buy Mine Resistant vehicles that can cut the loss of lives and limbs from roadside bombs -- responsible for 70 percent of American deaths in Iraq -- by two-thirds. Meanwhile all of my opponents either voted against or opposed the bill. In fact, I have been leading the effort to get more MRAPs on the ground in Iraq as soon as possible. I was able to add $1.5 billion to that bill so that we can get an additional 2500 vehicles to Iraq by the end of the year. I am working every day to end the war responsibly. But we owe people the truth: even if we forced George Bush to end the war tomorrow, it will take at least a year to get all our troops out. Meanwhile, it would be unconscionable not to protect them.
From the Clinton campaign:
Hillary is concerned about the billions of dollars being spent on outside military contractors. She believes there should be better accountability and controls with the Pentagon?s budget and that we need to reform the Pentagon's acquisition system to rein in weapons systems costs and spending on outside contractors. We need to find the right mix between legacy systems that our service members currently use and newer programs that will allow us to keep our technological edge. Every challenge we face begins with the biggest challenge: restoring our leadership by once again valuing alliances, respecting our values, and understanding that American strength is more than just a show of force. Hillary will also end the process of giving no bid contracts to outside contractors. She believes government contracts should be transparent, open to intense competition and accessible on-line. According to the Project on Government Oversight, at least 45 percent of the $329 billion the federal government spent in fiscal year 2004 was awarded without competition. She would post every contract online, inviting interested citizens to scrutinize them, and cut the number of contractors working for the federal government by 500,000 over the next ten years, saving $10 to $18 billion a year. |
