March 16, 2003

Tracking Howard Dean:

The focus on this week's Tracking The Candidates subject, Howard Dean, continues with this position summary (via MSNBC):

The economy: Believes that the "reckless" 2001 tax cuts should be repealed, that the budget should be balanced and new spending focused on health and education.

Energy policy: Believes U.S. energy policy should stress "conservation and renewables, including wind, biomass, ethanol and solar." Says U.S. dependence on foreign oil is "one of our biggest security threats" but is opposed to exploration for gas and oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Foreign policy: Points to the post-World War II Marshall Plan as "the greatest advance in American foreign policy in the last century" and says that U.S. foreign policy "ought to embrace nation building, not run from it." He opposed the congressional resolution authorizing military action against Iraq.

Terrorism: Supports the administration's war on terror but believes America "has withdrawn from the world" in ways that make it vulnerable to terrorists. "We have to get populations to stop supporting terrorists. And what I’m interested in is changing Afghanistan, changing what’s going on … among the Palestinians, so that there is no base of support for those terrorists. And that involves more than just military action."

Social Security: Would use some of the money saved by rescinding the Bush tax cuts to shore up the Social Security system.

Thumbnail sketch: A physician and the son of a stockbroker, the former Vermont governor fashions himself as a plainspoken outsider who is running in the mold of Jimmy Carter. He trumpets as his chief accomplishments solving his state's debt crisis and enacting sweeping health care initiatives and vows to focus on those issues if he is elected president.

Posted by Avocare at March 16, 2003 09:32 PM
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