To see a video on what students think about the candidates’ profiles, click here.
Editor’s Note: McCain’s views are listed before Obama’s  in this story because of the alphabetical order of their names. This sequence is not meant to endorse or slight a particular candidate. During the 2008 presidential election, Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin joked that the difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull is lipstick. But the differences between presidential candidates Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama are a little more complicated. From the economy and foreign policy to taxes and the environment, stark contrasts between the two candidates emerge. With a glance at each candidate’s Web site, University students can get a better understanding of where each stands on the issues. And with the election only five days away, last-minute undecided voters are assessing candidates.TAXESMcCain plans to make nearly all of the Bush tax cuts permanent. He plans to keep the capital gains tax at 15 percent, allowing “American innovation, growth and prosperity” through entrepreneurship. By 2015, McCain wants to cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent. “America was once a low-tax business environment, but as our trade partners lowered their rates, America failed to keep pace,” McCain says on his Web site.McCain wants to suspend taxes on unemployment insurance benefits in 2008 and 2009. He supports a simplified income tax system. McCain has also vowed to forbid Internet and cell phone taxes. Obama will create a “Making Work Pay” tax credit of up to $500 for individuals and $1,000 for families in households making less than $250,000 a year. He plans to repeal a portion of the Bush tax cuts for people earning more than $250,000. Scott Jordan, spokesman for the Louisiana Democratic Party, said he thinks the most important issue in the election is the economy.”Right now, President Bush and McCain believe in tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans,” Jordan said. “Trickle down economics doesn’t work. [The economy] should be built from the ground up.”Others, like College Republicans President Chuck Fontenot, don’t agree with Obama’s tax policy.”[Obama’s policy] is one of wealth redistribution that will hurt this country,” Fontenot said. Obama also plans to increase the capital gains tax from 15 percent to 20 percent for households earning more than $250,000 a year, and plans to eliminate all capital gains taxes on investors in small and start-up businesses. Obama wants to extend unemployment insurance benefits for an additional 13 weeks and temporarily suspend taxes on insurance benefits. He has vowed to give businesses a $3,000 income tax credit for each new employee they hire in 2009. Obama plans to close loopholes before considering a cut in corporate taxes and wants to enforce tax penalties for U.S. companies keeping profits overseas in “international tax havens for improper tax avoidance or tax evasion.”BUDGETMcCain has vowed to balance the federal budget by 2013 by eliminating “earmarks, pork-barrel spending and waste.” He will implement a one-year spending pause in which all spending, except for defense and veterans, will freeze. Those savings will be for deficit reduction and reforming entitlement programs including Social Security.  Though his plan is unspecific, Obama said he would force lawmakers to pay for any new spending or tax breaks through revenue and cuts in other programs, ending wasteful government spending. ECONOMYIn addition to cutting the corporate tax rate to 25 percent, McCain said he would purchase troubled mortgages directly from financial institutions and restructure them. Obama said he will give tax incentives for companies keeping jobs in the U.S. He has also vowed to stop mortgage fraud and reform bankruptcy laws.Obama’s economic policy also includes plans to provide $50 billion to “jump-start the economy.” Obama will establish a $25 billion State Growth Fund “to prevent state and local cuts in health, education, housing and heating assistance or counterproductive increases in property taxes, tolls and fees” as well as a $25 billion Jobs and Growth Fund to prevent cutbacks in road and bridge maintenance while funding school repair. It is not explained where the $50 billion will come from.SOCIAL SECURITYMcCain thinks Social Security is failing because it funds other government programs. He supports allowing workers to invest a portion of their payroll tax in private accounts which they would manage themselves.Obama opposes privatization of the Social Security system. He will ask those making over $250,000 to contribute “a bit more to Social Security to keep it sound.”   EDUCATIONThough he offers few specifics, McCain says he wants to simplify federal financial aid for higher education and tax benefits and provide improved information on universities for parents and students.McCain will “build” on the No Child Left Behind Act. He has also proposed providing bonuses for teachers who move to struggling schools and improve student performance. Obama’s biggest education policy is a new fully refundable “American Opportunity Tax Credit” ensuring the first $4,000 is completely free for most Americans. It will cover 2/3 the cost of tuition at the average public college or university and make community college tuition completely free for most students. The credit will require students to conduct 100 hours of community service. “In the day to day bread and butter issues, like the economy, Obama’s plan favors people who need a break and don’t make a lot of money,” Jordan said. “If the economic situation doesn’t improve, then those are jobs that aren’t going to be there for college students. [Obama’s plan] offers more for college students.”His “Zero to Five” plan focuses on early childhood education and, through Early Learning Challenge Grants to promote efforts, will help states move toward voluntary, universal pre-school.Reworking the No Child Left Behind Act is also one of Obama’s top priorities in education reform. WAR IN IRAQ McCain does not believe the U.S. should set a timetable for troop withdrawal in Iraq. “The best way to secure long-term peace and security is to establish a stable, prosperous, and democratic state in Iraq that poses no threat to its neighbors and contributes to the defeat of terrorists,” McCain says on his Web site. “When Iraqi forces can safeguard their own country, American troops can return home.”McCain has been a strong supporter of the war but criticized its management. He strongly advocated for the surge. “McCain has said he will pull out of Iraq when the generals on the ground say it’s safe,” said Aaron Baer, communications director for the Louisiana GOP. “We shouldn’t pull out when we haven’t achieved our objective.”Obama wants “a responsible, phased withdrawal from Iraq” within 16 months. Obama doesn’t want to build permanent bases in Iraq, but said a residual force will remain in the country to conduct targeted counter-terrorism missions against Al-Qaeda. “A phased withdrawal will encourage Iraqis to take the lead in securing their own country and making political compromises,” Obama says on his Web site. Obama said after he responsibly ends the war in Iraq, he will focus on “the right battlefield in Afghanistan.” “[He] has been long calling on the redeployment of troops to Afghanistan,” Jordan said. Obama opposed the war as an Illinois state senator and later opposed the surge. “John McCain doesn’t have an exit strategy — there is no end game,” Jordan said. “Our troops have done everything they’ve been asked of and more. Its time for Iraq to take responsibility.”Fontenot said leaving Iraq soon would be a mistake.”[McCain] understands that no matter how it started we are there, and we only leave once the job is done,” Fontenot said. “Barack Obama supports a quicker withdrawal, which would lead to more insurgency in Iraq — it would be like pulling a table cloth off a table and having the dishes fly everywhere.”HEALTH CAREMcCain opposes a mandate requiring everyone to have health insurance because he believes individuals need to be able to choose their own health care. He is promising a refundable tax credit of $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families tax credit to help buy their health insurance while at the same time having the option of employer-based coverage. The expense would be offset by taxing the employer-provided health benefits as income. McCain also wants to reform Medicare and Medicaid. McCain said universal health care is possible without tax increase. He supports importing prescription drugs at lower prices and opening health care markets by allowing providers to practice nationwide rather than restricting them regionally — making health insurance portable. Obama plans to aim for universal coverage in the United States and will require all children to have health insurance. His $50 to $65 billion health care reform plan would be paid for by rolling back the Bush tax cuts for Americans earning more than $250,000 per year and retaining the estate tax at its 2009 levels. ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENTMcCain wants to lift restrictions and expand oil and natural gas exploration and production while investing in renewable energy. He is an avid supporter of nuclear energy and has vowed to construct 45 new nuclear plants by 2030. The construction of these plants will create roughly 700,000 new jobs, he said. He wants to establish a cap-and-trade system limiting greenhouse gas emissions. Like Obama’s plan, market participants are allotted total permits equal to the cap on greenhouse gas emissions. If they can invent, improve, or acquire a way to reduce their emissions, they can sell their extra permits for cash instead of auctioning, as in Obama’s plan.Obama supports utilizing renewable resources rather than nuclear power and offshore drilling, though he is open to both. He supports clean coal technology as well. Obama said he will enact a windfall profit tax on excessive oil company profits to give American families a $1,000 emergency energy rebate to help pay rising bills. He wants to establish a national low carbon fuel standard to combat climate change. He wants to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050 through a cap-and-trade system. He would require all pollution credits to be auctioned with all proceeds going into investments in “a clean energy future, habitat protections and rebates and other transition relief for families.”SOCIAL ISSUESMcCain opposes abortion rights except in cases of rape, incest and to save the mother’s life. He supports overturning Roe v. Wade and has vowed to nominate reliable, conservative judges to the Supreme Court. Though he opposes gay marriage, he also opposes a constitutional amendment banning it. McCain doesn’t oppose civil unions and believes it is up to the states to decide. McCain opposes gun control and supports expanding the federal death penalty.Obama favors abortion rights and supports Roe v. Wade. He has said he would nominate Supreme Court judges with expansive and progressive views of the constitution. He opposes gay marriage but also opposes a constitutional amendment to ban it. Obama supports civil unions and believes the states should decide those issues. Obama supports some restrictions on gun ownership and supports capital punishment for particular crimes.—-Contact Kyle Bove at [email protected]