What kind of ‘change’ is McCain talking about?

Nelson Graves
Published: September 17, 2008

Was I watching and hearing the Republican candidate for U.S. president on television during his convention acceptance speech, John S. McCain or Democratic candidate Barack H. Obama? Throughout and especially at the end of his speech, McCain exhorted the Republican delegates to – paraphrasing here – “Stand up! Stand up! Stand up!” for change and take back America.
For more than a year and a half, Obama has been advocating the same idea and many conservatives, particularly Republicans, have asked Obama what he means by “change.”
Now that John McCain is promising to “change America” and put it back on track, do conservatives who questioned Obama when he spoke about “change” now know what he meant? Or is McCain’s change is different than Obama’s?
If American voters who questioned Obama’s change suddenly know what change is, it tells me they were just looking for a reason to oppose his candidacy. Not wanting to admit that they couldn’t overcome the color of his skin, they looked for reasons that obscured their embedded racism.
Both candidates are in agreement on certain “changes.” They want to improve the lives of average Americans by jump-starting America’s economy. Both advocate creating and keeping good paying jobs within our borders. Both say that with American ingenuity and inventiveness we can create alternative sources of energy, provide quality education for all American students and health care for all Americans. Both also vow to return America’s standing in the world to where it used to be. Today, we aren’t too well thought of. Finally, both want to return civility to Congress.
Make no mistake there are differences between McCain and Obama.
McCain wants to keep Bush’s tax breaks for the upper class (rich) and corporations in place, keep U.S. troops in Iraq indefinitely (think South Korea), drill for more oil in continental U.S. locations and offshore.
Obama wants to reverse tax cuts for the upper class and extend them to middle-class families, reduce troop levels in Iraq responsibly and transfer our forces to Afghanistan, (where they should’ve been anyway) and provide all Americans with basic health care coverage. To pay for health care, Obama would increase corporate taxes.
I watched an excerpt of Republican vice presidential candidate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s interview with ABC’s Charlie Gibson. Gibson asked her if she had a moment’s doubt if she were ready to be president should the need arise. She not only said that she was ready, but amazingly didn’t hesitate to make or doubt her own assertion.
More amazingly, Republican supporters agree with her.
Since the Republican convention McCain and Obama have been distracted by Palin’s entry into the presidential race. Hopefully, both McCain and Obama will return to telling voters their plans to restore middle class American values and opportunities.
I don’t believe a McCain-Palin administration will be any different than the Bush-Cheney administration. For eight years they’ve protected the well-off.
It’s time for an Obama-Biden administration to help the rest of us.
Nelson Graves, Western Virginia director of the Virginia Minority Supplier Development Council, writes a weekly column for The News Virginian. E-mail him at .