What Does Barack Obama Really Stand For?

Barack Obama is an engaging and charismatic candidate for President and is without question one of the best public speakers in a generation. Some wonder if Senator Barack has the government and life experiences to truly be President of the United States. Even John F. Kennedy served full terms in both the House of Representatives and the Senate before becoming President.

But all that aside, what does Barack Obama really believe in? What are his answers for the challenges facing America? It is difficult to draw any conclusions from Senator Obama's stump speeches on the campaign trail. They are full of populist platitudes but short on specifics. Barack Obama does certainly get the award for using the word "change" the most.

There was a day when candidates for president put out thick books on their proposed policies. Today that has been replaced with the Internet, but often with less specifics. Nevertheless, I have taken the time to review Senator Obama's web site (http://www.barackobama.com/) to see what can be gleaned. Unfortunately the details on how exactly certain policies would be enacted is absent. But some conclusions can be made. There are too many topics to cover but a sample.

There is one part of the Obama campaign I find particularly amusing. A central theme of his stump speeches is that he will bring a new era of non-partisanship to Washington, D.C. But the policies advocated on his web site are highly partisan with a strong focus on populism and class warfare.

The "Issues" section of the web site is organized into a number of topics such as "Economy", "Fiscal", "Education", etc. Each of these topics has "The Problem" followed by "Barack Obama's Plan". The following are some highlights of Senator Obama's platform.

"Economy" is always a good place to start in understanding a candidate. The problem section states that wages are stagnant and that the Bush tax cuts favored the wealthy at the expense of the middle class. Neither of these statements are true. Real wages are increasing at a strong rate - much faster than inflation. Jobs have been created every month for 52 months - an unprecedented record. The Bush tax cuts benefited all Americans, wealthy and middle class.

Barack Obama's plan for the economy is to raise taxes on the wealthy and provide a tax cut to the middle class. When you raise taxes on one group and cut taxes for another group, that is not tax relief, it is a government mandated transfer of wealth.

There are another 35 proposals in the "Economy" section, almost all of which are on the far left side of the Democratic Party and either impose increased regulation and centralized government control of industries or are government mandated transfers of wealth. For example, regarding trade, Senator Obama advocates "fair trade" rather than "free trade". Of course this is liberal code for opposing free trade agreements - something almost every economist will tell you is a dumb idea.

Regarding labor, Senator Obama proudly highlights his co-sponsorship of the "Employee Free Choice Act". This is the bill that would eliminate the secret ballot for union organizing and replace it with signing a union card, or not, in front of the union boss and his goons. The secret ballot is a fundamental pillar of our democracy. What do you think is truly the best way to determine whether someone wants to join a union or not - secret ballot or not? The Democrats are pushing for this because unions, who are strong supporters of the Democrat Party, have lost much of their relevancy, and membership. Eliminating the secret ballot gives unions the upper hand to strong-arm prospective members to voting to organize.

Regarding housing, Senator Obama proposes allowing bankruptcy courts to unilaterally alter mortgage payment terms for borrowers. As I have previously stated, allowing the government to bust legal contracts between private parties is a frightening position. Barack Obama further advocates a whole series of proposals to punish so-called predatory lending practices. Again, per my previous posts, these "predators" were so clever that they loaned money to people with no money down who could not pay them back. Now the predators are going out of business and the borrowers are simply walking away from what was essentially a "rental".

Regarding health care, Barack Obama would imposed price controls on health insurance companies. His web site states the following:

"Barack Obama will prevent companies from abusing their monopoly power through unjustified price increases. His plan will force insurers to pay out a reasonable share of their premiums for patient care instead of keeping exorbitant amounts for profits and administration."

One of the largest insurers is United Healthcare (UNH). UNH has a profit margin of 6.16%. Cigna (CI) has a profit margin of 6.21%. Not exactly what I would call exorbitant profits. Scale in the health care industry lowers administrative costs. General Electric has a profit margin of 12.71%. Microsoft has a profit margin of 27.51%. The Coca-Cola Company has a profit margin of 19.83%. Should the government confiscate the profits of these company's too? If the health insurers are making exorbitant profits what about everyone else?

As President, according to his web site, Barack Obama would advocate the creation of dozens of new government entitlements. The proposals listed under the "Work/Family Balance" section offers some insight. Two thirds of these proposals create new entitlements or expand existing entitlements. All cost money.

Regarding foreign policy, Barack Obama would immediately begin removing troops from Iraq and would withdraw all troops within 16 months. Senator Obama does not acknowledge the success of the "surge" or the remarkable progress now being made in Iraq.

There are hundreds of proposals outlined in the "Issues" section of Barack Obama's web site. Most involve one of the following:

1. Imposing increased government control over the economy or society.


2. Transferring wealth between classes.


3. Increase government intervention and spending.


4. Create new government entitlements.

Barack Obama's self-described Presidency would be one of high taxes, anti-economic growth, increased spending and class warfare. He may be glib, he may promote "change", but his policies would hurt our country and our economy and move us further in the direction of socialism.

Disclosure: at the time of this posting the author was long UNH and MSFT.