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Nithiwat

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claimbuster

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Prosperity is not just going to trickle down.

And that's why, for example, on tax policy, what I want to do is provide a middle class tax cut to 95 percent of working Americans, those who are working two jobs, people who are not spending enough time with their kids, because they are struggling to make ends meet.

Senator McCain is right that we've got to stabilize housing prices.

Now, with respect to Fannie Mae, what Senator McCain didn't mention is the fact that this bill that he talked about wasn't his own bill.

I think it depends on what we do.

Americans' workers are the best in the world.

And we've got to give them a chance.

They've got -- we've got to give them a chance to do their best again.

Maybe you don't go out to dinner as much.

When George Bush came into office, our debt -- national debt was around $5 trillion.

And so while it's true that nobody's completely innocent here, we have had over the last eight years the biggest increases in deficit spending and national debt in our history.

So here's what I would do.

We are mortgaging our children's future.

Senator Obama has never taken on his leaders of his party on a single issue.

And we need to reform.

I don't expect you to watch every vote.

I think it's very important that we reform our entitlement programs.

So we've got to deal with that right away.

And we can do it.

So that would be priority number one.

We do need to look at our records.

That's what I'm going to do as president of the United States.

Well, Fiora (ph), I'm going to ask the American people to understand that there are some programs that we may have to eliminate.

I believe that we have to eliminate the earmarks.

And, by the way, I want to go back a second.

Look, we can attack health care and energy at the same time.

We can, with the participation of all Americans, work together and solve these problems together.

That wasn't the kind of call to service that I think the American people were looking for.

We're going to have to develop clean coal technology and safe ways to store nuclear energy.

But each and every one of us can start thinking about how can we save energy in our homes, in our buildings.

Now, when Senator McCain is proposing tax cuts that would give the average Fortune 500 CEO an additional $700,000 in tax cuts, that's not sharing a burden.

Well, you know, nailing down Senator Obama's various tax proposals is like nailing Jell-O to the wall.

I've got some news, Senator Obama, the news is bad.

So let's be clear about my tax plan and Senator McCain's, because we're not going to be able to deal with entitlements unless we understand the revenues coming in.

Only a few percent of small businesses make more than $250,000 a year.

Now, in contrast, Senator McCain wants to give a $300 billion tax cut, $200 billion of it to the largest corporations and a hundred thousand of it -- a hundred billion of it going to people like CEOs on Wall Street.

I want to get to Medicare in a second.

Senator Obama has never taken on his party leaders on a single major issue.

When he ran for the United States Senate from Illinois, he said he would have a middle-income tax cut.

And our best days are ahead of us.

Now, how -- what's -- what's the best way of fixing it?

Nuclear power is safe, and it's clean, and it creates hundreds of thousands of jobs.

And we can do it, but we're going to have to make an investment.

And during that time, he voted 23 times against alternative fuels, 23 times.

We've got to make sure that we're giving them the energy that they need or helping them to create the energy that they need.

I'm just trying to keep up with John.

I think pure research and development investment on the part of the United States government is certainly appropriate.

By the way, my friends, I know you grow a little weary with this back-and-forth.

If you've got health insurance, most of you have seen your premiums double over the last eight years.

Well, thank you for the question.

And we need to do all of the things that are necessary to make it more efficient.

Let's do a lot of things to impose efficiencies.

I want to give every American a $5,000 refundable tax credit.

Don't we go across state lines when we purchase other things in America?

But the point is that we have got to give people choice in America and not mandate things on them and give them the ability.

We've got to give them the wherewithal to do it.

So let me -- let me just talk about this fundamental difference.

All I'm going to do is help you to lower the premiums on it.

Well, I thank you for that question, because there's no doubt that history shows us that nations that are strong militarily over time have to have a strong economy, as well.

And that is one of the challenges that America faces.

Well, you know, Senator McCain, in the last debate and today, again, suggested that I don't understand.

We've spent, so far, close to $700 billion and if we continue on the path that we're on, as Senator McCain is suggesting, it's going to go well over $1 trillion.

Well, we may not always have national security issues at stake, but we have moral issues at stake.

If we could have intervened effectively in the Holocaust, who among us would say that we had a moral obligation not to go in?

And so I do believe that we have to consider it as part of our interests, our national interests, in intervening where possible.

Right now there's a peacekeeping force that has been set up and we have African Union troops in Darfur to stop a genocide that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

And that's what I intend to do when I'm president.

Well, let me just follow up, my friends.

And we must do whatever we can to prevent genocide, whatever we can to prevent these terrible calamities that we have said never again.

But it also has to be tempered with our ability to beneficially affect the situation.

And I understand that we have to say never again to a Holocaust and never again to Rwanda.

And if we have Osama bin Laden in our sights and the Pakistani government is unable or unwilling to take them out, then I think that we have to act and we will take them out.

And that is to get the support of the people.

And by working and coordinating our efforts together, not threatening to attack them, but working with them, and where necessary use force, but talk softly, but carry a big stick.

It'd be fine with me.

We are going to have to make the Iraqi government start taking more responsibility, withdraw our troops in a responsible way over time, because we're going to have to put some additional troops in Afghanistan.

And we want a democracy in Afghanistan.

And I've had conversations with him.

We have to have a streamlined NATO command structure.

We have to do a lot of things.

We will succeed and we will bring our troops home with honor and victory and not in defeat.

But the Russians must understand that these kinds of actions and activities are not acceptable and hopefully we will use the leverage, economic, diplomatic and others united with our allies, with our allies and friends in Europe who are equally disturbed as we are about their recent behaviors.

And for the most part I agree with Senator McCain on many of the steps that have to be taken.

But we can't just provide moral support.

The other thing we have to do, though, is we've got to see around the corners.

And Georgia and Ukraine are both major gateways of energy into Europe.

Well, thank you, Terry (ph).

And thank you for your service to the country.

And I think we can do that.

But, at the end of the day, my friend, I have to tell you again, and you know what it's like to serve, and you know what it's like to sacrifice, but we can never allow a second Holocaust to take place.

It would be a game-changer in the region.

And I will do everything that's required to prevent it.

Iran went from zero centrifuges to develop nuclear weapons to 4,000.

But here's what I do know.

And the question in this election is: are we going to pass on that same American dream to the next generation?

That's what's at stake in this election.

There are challenges around the world that are new and different and there will be different -- we will be talking about countries sometime in the future that we hardly know where they are on the map, some Americans.

I grew up in a family where my father was gone most of the time because he was at sea and doing our country's business.

I know what it's like to have to fight to keep one's hope going through difficult times.

I thought that was a good model.