The Position Makers

i had the luck of getting tipped an awesome interview of barack obama speaking with the san francisco chronicle editorial board. thanks, sherry!

i strongly encourage everyone to check this out, if they’re at all curious about obama, his political policies and agenda as well as goals if elected president.here’s the actual vid, it’s 52 min long so make sure you have a few min; perfect for a saturday or sunday morning. (i happen to have MLK Day off.)

my reactions, notes and highlights:

1.seeks transparency in the political system, including accountability

• on being candid he says, “I tell the truth.”
• asked about the allure of his campaign he commented, “Young people have a pretty good nose for hypocrisy.”
• referring to social security obama says,”I’ve been very clear; we have a serious problem here.”
• and then on climate change, “”…I think in this campaign its about telling the hard truths…what [the people]need to hear, not just what they want to hear…[have to make] some sacrifices if we are serious about reversing the effects of climate change.”

2.Health Care:

• similar plan as to what is offered to Congress, with the option to buy in

• emphasis on prevention: “a health care system, not a disease care system.”
  • claiming savings of $150 billion per year that could be used for subsidizing those “who don’t have [health insurance].”
• providing a catastrophic loss subsidy (something along the lines of a cancer or other disease, major accident/rehabilitation need?)
• commenting on clinton’s 1st attempt at creating a national health care system it doesn’t reach wide political concessions “behind close doors” with a “team of specialists.” this rang true as from observation clinton is generally an elitist, something generally refreshing about obama. though extremely intelligent and well spoken, he conveys a sense of open mindedness.

3. Climate Change:

• emphasis on cap and trade with extremely aggressive cap increases stating, “If [someone] wants to build a coal powered plant, they can but it will bankrupt them because of the ratcheting of caps.” Meanwhile this will create pool of billions in funding in addition to a system for the market and entrepreneurs to really chose the winning technologies and not washington because maybe they choose wrong.
• it’s not a discussion of blind ideology either. if technology does present a solution to greenhouse gas emissions or safe, reliable storage to nuclear waste, then those technologies should be pursued. he’s not taking an anthropocentric, technologist approach to ecological degradation, rather a very healthy skepticism to what is possible while recognizing what is necessary, possible and prudent now.
  • along that note he also stated that the “notion of no-coal is an illusion. we get a lot of energy from coal…china is building a new one a week.”

4. Securities Markets and Oversight:

• reduce the influence of ratings agencies and brokerages in washington
  • “breaking the conflict s of interest. not just in the [CDO arena] but other areas as well.” (hopefully meaning, golman saches et al making “buy” or “sell” ratings based on their long/short positions!)
• correcting the earnings discrepancy
• facilitating smoother fiscal and security markets that prevent speculative bubbles from developing, whether that be in tech or real estate.

5. Iraq:

• out by end of ‘09
• leave enough troops to protect embassy and american and international civilian workers
• no permanent bases
• on conflicts in general stating, “we do have an obligation to prevent mayhem and genocide…and i would retain the right to exercise that.” but at the same time he was generally implying a more diplomatic approach that for all regional issues including members of surrounding countries in the political dialog. this would be much more effective in the middle east, imho, than gun slinger, hawk technocrats forcing decisions like it’s a game of poker.

Final thoughts (for now):

what’s really striking to me is his candidness. i’ve been hungry for a leader for a long time that really wanted to make the changes in our nation that are absolutely needed if we’re to maintain our current growth and standard of living. obama comes right out and says that we will have sacrifices to make, that the cost of certain goods (such as gas and electricity) will rise but that the economic woes from those sacrifices would be short term. the long term benefits certainly outweigh the short term loses.

in many ways, his honesty is almost shocking; we never hear candidates telling us that our lifestyles may need to change. but we also don’t hear the other politicians stating that getting our gas efficiency up to 40 MPG would eliminate the reliance on gas from the pursian gulf. wow! the princes of saudi arabia, soverign hedge funds and fossil-fuel czars may not be able to afford their airbus A350’s or minority stakes in citi bank, merrill lynch, etc if the price of oil suddenly plummets due to dramatic demand decreases. there’s also been studies that have found that lower priced oil led to a loosening of political totalitarianisms; meaning leaders such as chavez and mousharif have a decline in totalitarian rule and an increase in democratic processes as the general market prices for fossil fuels decline because the national wealth levels correspondingly drop, creating a likewise decrease in general political clout among the people.

obama’s stance on renewable energies is right where my portfolio needs it too. i’m a strong believer in the future of better-than-fossil-fuels-companies and am excited to have a president who’s not a complete bone-head about what we as a people need (versus what “cousins and other rich white people” need).

is he motivating enough? i’m long obama.

barack obama’s website