Important question: Can Kerry do it all?

[benito]

Speaking to someone close to me this weekend about the upcoming election. They said Kerry is trying too hard to be everything to everyone. They also said that there's no way he can
1. solve all the problems in the middle east in 4 years
2. give everyone healthcare in 4 years
3. raise the minimum wage to a living wage and create millions of jobs.
4. do all this without raising taxes

Will the reThuglican Senate do anything to help out Kerry? :shrug:

I would really like to get DU'ers opinions on these very valid questions. It may not sway their decision making, but it may help me with others.

[freetobegay]

1. Bush has proven he can't, it's time to try someone new.

[YNGW]

2. Gridlock

Get used to it.

[Tim4319]

3. It's going to be extremely hard for him to do all of that in 4 years

with a "reThuglican Senate"! If he can atleast create some more jobs and raise minimum wage and show an effort of providing some sort of health care, with the current senate, within the first 4 years. The next step would be to have the current Senate shaken up and become controlled by the Dem's! That way, if Kerry can obtain a second term, he could implement the parts of his plan that are going to get rejected by the current Senate.

[MSgt213]

4. No he can't and you nor anyone else should expect him to. The reality is

that Bush has fucked things up so badly that its will take most of Kerry's first term to find money to fund the "No Child Left Behind Act" alone. He's got to repair relations with our allies so that they trust our word again.

He's got to repair our relations with countries that are not our allies to ensure they understand that we will not recklessly attacked them if they do something we don't like.

He has to get money out of congress to build up our borders and other internal security measures that Bush has left unfunded and unprotected.

He has to fix the medical mess, and still fund and fix the CIA, Homeland Security, Defense Dept intelligence and provide local law enforcement with connections to federal law enforcement. You know all those things Bush said he was going to do but still not done.

Finally, he has to repair the relationship with congress and the senate so that those people will work with him to help americans instead of filling every pocket they have with taxpayer dollars.

[benito]

12. well..we know all this

But some people are expecting way too much from K/E. I'm hoping that there will not be a backlash against Kerry if he is elected.

[MaryH]

5. Kerry is an amazing manager

If if there is anyone out there that can do it - it would be him.

Maybe the more moderate Republicans are just as sick of all this right-wing stuff as the Democrats are. If they would try to help unify the government we just might make it.

[BeFree]

6. Ambitious, ain't he?

Being ambitious is a core value of America, eh?

Compared to the ambitions of the B*sh team, Kerry's goals are more Christian.

Compared to the B*sh team's leading us into a tunnel, Kerry is the light at the end of the tunnel in which we find ourselves.

Kerry's Team will be able to accomplish those goals because we are AmeriCANs, not republiCAN'Ts.

Are your contacts saying we can't do these things, or are they saying we should not even try?

[benito]

9. well

They are asking Why is Kerry promising all this stuff when he knows he probably won't be able to deliver. I KNOW that something MUST be done Nov 2 and the first order of bidness if getting Enron/Halliburton out of office!

I'm all for trying to get this country back on track - no matter how long it takes!

[BeFree]

11. How long will it take?

Aye, that's the question, matey. How long?

Well, as long as there is opposition to getting back on track, the effort grows ever longer and harder.

It begs the question: What is the correct track for America? Who, amongst the two possibilities, has the better vision?

One has a vision of world dominance and the other leads America to being a good neighbor in the world's neighborhood.

[forgethell]

7. Kerry isn't God

1. He won't solve the problems in the Middle East without abandonig Israel. Cause as long as I/P is an issue, there will be war there.

2. He might give everyone healthcare, but taxes will have to rise significantly.

3. Raising the minimum wage will not create jobs. In fact it may do the opposite as employers find other ways to do what has to be done.

4. No. Taxes will have to come up.

Still, he isn't George * Bush.


That said, I think it more important for him to concentrate on how he is going to unite this country, not divide it. Because the conservative, racist, misogynist, fundie, supporters of * will still be out there, and they will still be voters and citizens. So, what bone is he going to throw them? And will it be enough?


That said, I think a more more

[MadHound]

8. No, he cant' do it all, and what's more

There will be some issues on which he won't even try. Kerry is simply a somewhat more left leaning corporate whore. He will be allowed some slack with which to pursue his agenda, but when his agenda knocks up against the profit line of his corporate masters, his chain will be jerked in quick.

That being said, Kerry is better than Bush to a significant degree. While he won't change the direction that this country is ultimately heading, he will at least slow down the speed with which we are approaching the cliff edge. However if we don't elect somebody unencumbered by corporate purse strings soon, we will still be going over that edge, though with Dems in power, it will take us longer to get there.

[Village Idiot]

10. What a pile of horseshit!

1. Kerry has NEVER said he would fix the Middle East (or even Iraq, for that matter) in four years!!!

2. He has never said that he would give EVERYONE health care just create better access to it.

"The Kerry-Edwards plan will give every American access to the range of high-quality, affordable plans available to members of Congress and extend coverage to 95 percent of Americans, including every American child.

3. He nerver said this, either - he said he would raise it, though. The jobs, as he says, will be created through small-business initiatives (he is a small business law expert)and tax incentives for non-outsourcing companies...

Create Good-Paying Jobs
"As president, John Kerry will cut taxes for businesses that create jobs here in America instead of moving them overseas."
"Today, businesses are harnessing new technology to manufacture energy-efficient cars, high-grade steel, advanced plastics and other new products. And this requires a bigger, skilled labor force to make them. John Kerry and John Edwards believe we should invest in these jobs and invest in the people who will fill them."


4. He most definitely NEVER said this. He said he would rescind the tax break for individuals earning more than $200,000, thus creating the necessary revenue...

"When John Kerry is president, middle-class taxes will go down. Ninety-eight percent of all Americans and 99 percent of American businesses will get a tax cut under the Kerry-Edwards plan."