John Kerry for a New Start for America

John Kerry Campaign Recent polls have shown President Bush and Sen. John Kerry virtually tied in their chances for getting elected. Many critics have scored both candidates for having identical position, despite their Republican or Liberal posturing. However, a deeper analysis would show that only Kerry is making solid towards alleviating many of the country's critical social and economic problems. Kerry has the qualifications to tackle many of these issues.

In terms of education, Kerry received good foundation from his years at Yale University and later, from law school at Boston College. This educational background is also supplemented by an extensive record in public office, including a stint at Massachusetts lieutenant governor from 1982-1984. Kerry has been serving as a United States Senator from 1985 to the present ("Profiles of candidates"). From the beginning of his campaign, Kerry has garnered a strong following among middle class sectors.

Because of Kerry's track record on voting for school improvement issues and his criticism of Bush's flawed No Child Left Behind policy, the senator has a strong following among educators. Among his earliest supporters were the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers, two important educator unions (Robelen). In addition to the teacher unions, Kerry is also being backed by one of the country's largest union groups - the AFL-CIO.

During the campaigns for the Democratic primaries, the AFL-CIO had mobilized local unions to distribute flyers and to put together a phone bank operation for Kerry. Since Howard Dean's withdrawal, other labor organizations such as the 1199 SEIU, a union of health care workers, have thrown their support behind Kerry as well (Michaud). Kerry's social policies also ensure that he will continue to enjoy this support among the middle class sector.

By focusing his campaign on socio-economic issues, Kerry is appealing to the mass of voters who believe that economic issues should gain priority over security concerns. One of Kerry's key issues therefore centers on creating new jobs, at a goal of 3 million jobs within his first 500 days in office ("John Kerry"). In creating these new jobs, Kerry hopes to jumpstart the economy. Towards this general goal, Kerry believes that the Bush tax cuts have compromised many important social programs.

The senator, a strong critic of Bush's tax cuts, have vowed to repeal the tax breaks for the wealthy but will retain tax relief programs for the middle and lower class. Kerry's policies also include programs to spur long-term economic growth. For example, he wants to replace Bush's No Child Left Behind policy with a program that truly aims to create a "new era for America's schools." Kerry's program will reduce class sizes, fix school facilities and support teachers through salary increases and higher budgets.

These programs will help to ensure higher standards in the public education system ("John Kerry"). To help more Americans prepare for their future careers, Kerry is also striving to place a college education within the reach of families with more modest incomes. One of Kerry's programs would fund a four-year tuition education at public colleges for students who will in turn provide two years of national service ("Profiles of candidates"). This would ensure that the next generation of Americans would be prepared to fill the country's economic needs.

Kerry has also pledged to address another issue that are key for many middle- and lower-income Americans - health insurance. Kerry, who has served as ranking minority leader of the Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, has proposed reforms that would allow all Americans to buy into the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program ("Profiles of candidates"). This will allow more Americans access to affordable healthcare. This focus on socio-economic issues has led charges that Kerry is soft on security issues and is unqualified to deal with international terrorism.

Critics like William Greidner have pointed out that Kerry himself did not object to launching attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq. As a senator, Kerry voted in favor of Bush's pre-emptive war doctrine, asking "Can we afford to ignore the possibility that Saddam Hussein might provide weapons of destruction to some terrorist group bent on destroying the United States?" (Kerry, qtd in Griedner). In his early support of unilateral war against Iraq, Kerry mouthed many of the reasons given by the White House.

Kerry has also lost significant following from war veterans, many of whom feel that Kerry's new anti-war tune is a slight against the military. Kerry has also been criticized for supposedly "embellishing" his anti-war credentials in order to gain the Democratic Party's nomination. Kerry supporters are quick to counter that Kerry has a long military record, that includes service in Vietnam ("Profiles of candidates"). These experiences may have shown the senator the futility of going into war unprepared.

In terms of military record and national security experience, Kerry's military service in Vietnam also trumps Bush's supposed service in the Texas National Guard. Kerry has also earned criticism from the more extreme liberals, who have pointed out significant ways wherein Kerry and Bush are identical. After all, both Kerry and Bush are Yale graduates who were members of the Skull & Bones society. Both are multi-millionaires. Both have argued similar positions on the War in Iraq at the beginning of the conflict.

Kerry has also supported many of Bush's free-trade agreements, which have spawned budget deficits and increased domestic unemployment (Dobbs). Other critics have thus characterized Kerry as a "conventional establishment politician" rather than a reformer. This can be discerned in Kerry's support for Tom Daschle for Senate Democratic leader, over the more liberal but more contentious Senator Christopher Dodd. During the controversy over welfare reform in the mid-1990s, Kerry sided with President Clinton and voted with the Republicans on the issue of workfare (Dobbs). The fact.