Political Issues During the 2008 Presidental Election Campaign

The 2008 Presidential election was a historic victory for a minority candidate and came with a hard-fought battle on many foreign and domestic affairs. Presidential nominees Barrack Obama of the Democratic Party and John McCain of the Republican Party debated for months on current and new political policies that would ultimately shape the nation. Although there are many areas where these opposing parties collided in their foreign and domestic policy agendas, some issues had unanimous support from both Democrats and Republicans as they were able to see that clear changes needed to be made in certain aspects of political policy. One aspect in domestic policy where Democrats and Republicans disagreed in 2008 is the issue of reforming the tax code. President Obama supported the idea that the tax cuts implemented during the Bush administration should be repealed in an effort to shut down special interest tax loopholes. These would significantly cut the tax breaks for major corporations using investments and other forms of tax shelters to minimize their taxable income. Additionally, the Democratic Party opted to eliminate federal income tax for seniors earning less than $50,000 a year in an effort to bring them economic relief in their golden years. The only one aspect that the Republicans could agree on here is that the corporate tax code needed to be changed. One of those changes was the proposition of ending cell phone and internet use tax because Republicans believe that taxation should only be used for essential functions. Also, the Republican Party was a proponent of a tax credit for healthcare or Medicare needs to level out income tax deductions on the working class.

Another big issue that was quickly on the rise during the 2008 Presidential campaign was the matter of the housing market collapse brought on by the impending economic recession. The Democratic Party was in favor of quickly implementing the provisions of the foreclosure prevention program set forth by Congress which was designed to issue government-backed loans to affected consumers in order to refinance their crumbling mortgages. They were also for the redesign on bankruptcy laws in order to prevent a future recession and housing bubble from occurring. The opposition to this matter from the Republicans came in the form of wanting to use the provided relief funds only on targeted individuals and families that were devastated by the housing collapse. In their perspective, the smart thing to do was trade a traditional mortgage loan for a market-value loan in order to offset the inflation of interest rates. The biggest push from the right-wing agenda was to encourage future home buyers not to over borrow on loans that they cannot pay back. The recession of the late 2000’s affected not only the housing market but the job market as well, and this left policy makers unsure of how to proceed in the interest of the American people. On one hand, the Democrats pushed for ending tax breaks for companies shipping jobs overseas and instead wanted to incentivize them to create new jobs here in the United States. The next most important part of the job market agenda was to invest in new forms of renewable energy in an effort to create what the Democrats called “Green Collar” jobs. On the other hand, the Republican Party wanted to reduce corporate taxes in order to allow American companies to compete on a global scale while keeping manufacturing jobs domestic. One of the issues also disparaging American companies from competing on a level global playing field were the trade barriers limiting access to American products and services which the Republicans were trying to get rid of. Lastly, the focus for creating new jobs was centered around the creation and innovation of new nuclear power plants.

One of the more controversial topics that were debated during the 2008 election is in regard to healthcare reform. The Democratic Party was heavily in favor of the Affordable Care Act which provided a marketplace for all setting in which consumers were allowed to explore various heath care options, regardless of preexisting conditions or employment status. The theory behind this being that healthcare coverage should be portable between occupations so that Americans would not be without proper medical care. This was further supported by increased tax credits and subsidies to make these policies more affordable. However, the Republican Party saw the damaged healthcare system as a failed government monopoly that needed to be better managed. Republicans believed that insurance policies should not be dictated by employer provided health care plans, but instead opted to give them more independent options. The Republicans also pushed for tax incentive equality regardless of the type of insurance policy that was being used and wanted a better reformation to the Medicare and Medicaid systems. Another domestic policy issue that came into play in 2008 was the topic of renewable energy policies. In this case, both sides of the political parties could agree that the United States was in need of energy independence from gasoline and oil. The Democrats and Republicans both pushed to find renewable forms of energy such as solar, wind, and geothermal power. The only difference in ideologies here was the Republicans scope on clean nuclear energy. While the Democrats believed that green energy initiatives are the future, many Republicans would argue that nuclear technology is the next wave of the future. On the Democratic side, their goal was also to combat oil company lobbyists who were contributing to political campaigns in an effort to reform energy policies.

On a broader spectrum, foreign policies regarding environmental health and conservation were almost unanimously agreed on by both political parties. Each side believed that climate change was a global concern and that the burden of reducing carbon emissions should be shared by the leading countries responsible. There is almost no deviation amongst both sides for the inclusion of global leaders into the Global Energy Reform committee in an effort to reduce our carbon footprint. This is one of the few areas that Democrats and Republicans can find a common ground. One of the looming burdens carried by President Barrack Obama from the Bush administration was the issue of the War in the Middle East. During the presidential campaign, Democrats were for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq and Afghanistan at a quick pace in order to regroup and redeploy elsewhere. However, they also wanted to leave a small number of military forces in several Middle Eastern countries to deal with terrorists and protect American assets. On the Republican side, there was no timetable for withdrawal of our troops as they did not believe we should put our national security at risk because of political opinion and instead relied on intelligence provided by their military commanders. While the Democratic approach was to uphold diplomacy at all costs, Republican leaders thought it would be best to keep all of their options open, including military insurgency.

Another part of the Middle-east debate arose when Iran’s nuclear arms program came into play. While the Democratic approach was to uphold diplomacy at all costs, Republican leaders thought it would be best to keep all of their options open, including military insurgency. Both sides, however, do agree that tighter sanctions need to be put forth to show our diplomatic supremacy and ensure Weapons of Mass Destruction were not developed. The theory was to offer incentives to Iran for dismantling their nuclear programs and military campaigns against Israel. Also, pressure was put on many companies that were doing business with Iran to encourage them to rethink their ways. A big foreign policy debate ensued over the topic of immigration during the 2008 election campaign. The Democrats supported the notion that those that were currently here illegally had the right to apply for citizenship again and would be required to pay fines, taxes, and learn to speak English. They were also big on the idea of increasing immigration visas for family members of permanent residents in the effort of keeping families together. The Republicans on the other hand felt that harsher punishment needed to be issued to those who broke the law, regardless of social contribution. They felt it would be best for the integrity of government policy to enforce a no path to immigration policy for any illegal immigrants with no exceptions. Republicans also wanted to go the extreme of not providing federal funds to sanctuary cities who housed illegal immigrants. The one positive thing that the Republicans sought after in their immigration reform was the amendment to H-1B visas that would allow our economy to meet the demand of new talent for science and technology through overseas resources.

Another notable topic in the realm of immigration is the subject of physical border security and ports of entry. Contrary to what many people believe, the Democrats and Republicans of 2008 almost implicitly agreed with each other regarding the reformation of our countries borders in order to improve national security. President Obama voiced his thoughts on increasing the number of border patrol agents and arming them with the latest technology and resources. Presidential nominee John McCain and the Republican Party also supported this idea and added the emphasis of a completed border wall. Being that our country was less than a decade out from a devastating terrorist attack, both sides of the political parties had the nation’s security as the highest priority regardless of who was in office. While there are many areas that Democrats and Republicans butt heads on, there are a few areas where both parties find solidarity. When it comes to the protection of American lives, I think we can all agree that cooperation is the best way to survive. Many of the opposing political ideologies displayed are influenced by socioeconomic factors and can be clouded by slight changes in perspective. The 2008 Presidential election was filled with many issues affecting social development, economic stability, and military agenda that set the table for the second decade in this millennium and the global issues we are now facing. It is difficult to determine which side is right, but an objective look can reveal that as long as we are progressing then there does not have to be a right or a wrong way to view politics.