What has to top your candidate's "must do" list for you to be satisfied you voted for them?

[SujiwanKenobee]

Obama's supporters have seemingly hung all kinds of expectations and inchoate longings on the man. With some Hilary supporters, I believe that the only similarity comes from those who have hopes and dreams of having a woman's perspective drive this country for a change--a much smaller group.

It's a different time and place now, but I recall my Jr. High and HS days when many people were really adopting an in-your-face activist stance for women's issues while other students were suddenly "Blacks" with "Fros" and new attitudes of Black Empowerment. Of course, now we are a much more multicultural country since the waves of immigration from around the world which has tended to drown out much of the previous discussions on women and our Black population.

During this campaign it seems like a lot of Unresolved Issues are once again rising to the surface because they've only been shoved under the rug. Neither women nor Blacks have progressed as much as they could have hoped. Ferraro and Wright's positions are just symptoms of the perception that there is a limited resource pie to slice up and each side wants to be first at the table. With the economy potentially going under, *that* is probably going to eventually trump all hope of reparations/focus on the "non-have" population or more emphasis on women's issues. Nothing is going to happen without MONEY flowing toward the issues we care about. If our jobs are going away and most of us see struggle ahead, I don't where this $ energy will come from. My main concern is getting the hell out of Iraq, for starters, to stop spending money there but neither candidate seems to want to move quickly.

THE Q: If your candidate can do is get elected, but can't do much about the domestic issues you care about, will that be enough for you? If all your candidate does is encourage a better feeling toward the US on the part of foreign countries, is that enough? If all your candidate does is oust a Republican, is that enough? What must your candidate accomplish/strive for as the minimum for you to be satisfied you voted for him/her?

[izzybeans]

1. I'd like to see a massive student loan debt relief program, a program that regulates

workplace compensation, a huge public works initiative building green power infrastructure, etc. etc. but I don't expect it to happen. If it does then I will vote for either one of them again.

[mac2]

2. Bring back our Constitution and Bill of Rights...

The first hour of the first day. Jefferson did it against Adams when he passed the Sedition Act and tried to bring us to war against France. We are a democracy not an Empire.

[MH1]

3. Obama must make a real effort at the government transparency and technology issues he's promised

I don't expect he will get the whole package through, but he should be able to get some of it done, and seeing a real effort will satisfy me.

[DemVet]

4. Hillary must have her Administration and Congress deal

with all the US Companies outsourcing for cheaper labor. Tax the hell out of them.

[MethuenProgressive]

5. Give straight answers.

Obama's dodges of the Rezko and Reparations questions and Clinton's refusal to say "mistake" and "sorry" for her IWR vote stand out as "not straight" answers.

[Justyce]

6. The economy is the biggest issue to me.

Something has to be done to fix the free trade/outsourcing problem. If the economy collapses and people don't have jobs, nothing else can be done anyway. And we need out of Iraq, now. Innocent people are dying and we can't afford to stay. I would also like to see something done about the healthcare situation. I don't really expect us to get universal healthcare, but something needs to be done about the outrageous prices, the power they have to make our medical decisions, etc. And they must protect our Medicare and Social Security. Our elderly deserve better than to have these programs slashed like the republicans want.

There are so many other important issues too, but basically, I want what Democrats always promise to do. We have a lot of things that urgently need fixing, so no, ousting a republican or encouraging a better feeling on the part of foreign countries is not enough.

[demokatgurrl]

7. Win the general election. n/t