zlacker

The wonderful thing about the interpipes is that you can educate yourself if you choose to. Go to any of the campaign websites and they spell out what they stand for. In my opinion, a decent place to start, since we're conversing here, is: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/technology/

>>robg+(OP)
Where is the section on civil liberties?

>>Alex39+8
Now this really is becoming a politics thread...

He has a town hall meeting on Sunday in Exeter,NH. Ask him yourself. Failing that, wait for him to come to your state. All else fails, assume he doesn't care. :)

I understand him that in pushing more transparency in government, accountability becomes more obvious. The real problem with the wiretapping is that no one was accountable because no one knew it was happening. As soon as it became public there was an extensive push to correct things.

Any case, I was simply responding to the claims that a candidate is "hiding their agenda". There are promises being made. The extent to which any politician gains or loses trust is the extent to which they're consistent with their promises - previously and in the future. All these things should absolutely influence your vote. But I think folks lose the right to complain if they don't participate in the process.

>>robg+c
What bothers me though is this: According to his website, Obama wants (among other things) more fiscal responsibility and better education. The thing is, we ALL want more fiscal responsibility and better education.

I don't have a problem with most of Obama's opinions, but I realize that that's mostly what they are. Opinions. Not plans.

The section on fiscal responsibility basically says increase taxes on the wealthy and reduce wasteful spending. That's not a plan, it's a talking point. It tells me next to nothing about whether he even wants to balance the budget and pay off the debt, let alone how he is going to accomplish it.

Even the detailed PDFs available in some sections are rather tenuous. I just read through the one on education. It talks a lot about making improvements in certain areas and increasing funding in certain programs, but it doesn't really go into what those improvements would be or what that funding would buy. It seems to be strongly influenced by the KIP program for educating low-income minorities, but other than that I'm having trouble picking out any specific pedagogy.

>>Alex39+k
This problem is true of any candidate. The closer you look the less that seems to be there. But then again, that's when you as a voter get to weight these things as you'd like when choosing a candidate you'll support. The President of the United States is such a unique job it's really hard to know what prior experiences make one truly qualified. No matter how good the opinions or plans, actual governing is a different beast.

>>robg+(OP)
Specifically:

"Barack Obama believes we need a business and regulatory landscape in which entrepreneurs and small businesses can thrive, start-ups can launch, and all enterprises can compete effectively while investors and consumers are protected against bad actors that cross the line."

See! Obama wants your start-up to launch! :)