Question: What should be the big issues of the 2008 presidential election?
Robert Menendez: I think the single biggest issue in 2008 should be where do we want to go as a country? That might not be viewed as an issue per se, but in my mind it’s an issue. It’s the overriding question. Where do we want to go as a country? Do we want to, as a country, be willing to say that we will take a significant part of our fellow citizens and say, “You know what? For some of us to do well, some of you cannot.” Are we willing to accept 40% of our human capital in communities of color not to fulfill their full potential and contribute to a greater America? Are we willing to go to sleep at night saying, “Well I have health care coverage, so I’m not worried about the 47 million who don’t, or the millions more who are underinsured”? Are we concerned about ensuring that we find the cures to some of the diseases that affect our fellow citizens so that my mother’s Alzheimer’s, or the young man I met with a spinal cord injury, or the husband with Parkinson’s, and so many other diseases . . . Are we willing as a country to say we accept that that is a human condition that we cannot change? And are we as a country willing at the end of the day to say we prefer to be known by the power of our bombs than the power of our collective intellect for good, and what that means in the world? So the big question is what type . . . The big issue is what type of America do we want to be? Because if we determine what type of America we want to be, then all the other things will come into play.
Recorded on: 9/12/07
Discuss
Alex Murphy on January 16, 2008, 6:50 PM
I agree and disagree. The generalities are at best optimistic and grand but there are so many details that come into play that you must look at. Yes, we all have a dream but there is always an opportunity cost and this short clip can not express about how we achieve this. My main problem with this election so far is that it plays on only emotions and not facts much like elections in the past. You can say the republicans won on fear and not on specific plans last election and democrats are running on change but have not expressed what their specific plan is this election. The only true issue is are voters educating themselves or just getting sucked into the emotion campaign machine of what is currently testing well in the polls. All three parties have strengths and weaknesses but how can we change anything when everything is pop-politics. The only answer comes from the only thing I picked up in my D.A.R.E. lessons in middles school. Don't believe the Hype, look for the angle, and decide who will really be able to make a difference and not just promise you the world.
Alex Murphy on January 16, 2008, 11:50 PM
I agree and disagree. The generalities are at best optimistic and grand but there are so many details that come into play that you must look at. Yes, we all have a dream but there is always an opportunity cost and this short clip can not express about how we achieve this. My main problem with this election so far is that it plays on only emotions and not facts much like elections in the past. You can say the republicans won on fear and not on specific plans last election and democrats are running on change but have not expressed what their specific plan is this election. The only true issue is are voters educating themselves or just getting sucked into the emotion campaign machine of what is currently testing well in the polls. All three parties have strengths and weaknesses but how can we change anything when everything is pop-politics. The only answer comes from the only thing I picked up in my D.A.R.E. lessons in middles school. Don’t believe the Hype, look for the angle, and decide who will really be able to make a difference and not just promise you the world.
Will Gere on January 17, 2008, 8:19 AM
This guy is an idiot!!!
Will Gere on January 17, 2008, 1:19 PM
This guy is an idiot!!!
cvbb lljhl on January 22, 2008, 6:19 AM
Health Care, Alternative Energy & tecnology to reduce depence on oil, Saving military personel from dying for protecting US economic interest abroad. Renavating delapidated road, rail, bridges etc. to insure we can traval and delivery people and goods safely & efficiently in the future
cvbb lljhl on January 22, 2008, 11:19 AM
Health Care, Alternative Energy & tecnology to reduce depence on oil, Saving military personel from dying for protecting US economic interest abroad. Renavating delapidated road, rail, bridges etc. to insure we can traval and delivery people and goods safely & efficiently in the future
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