Political positions of Barack Obama

Main article: Barack Obama

Senator Barack Obama's votes and remarks on many issues provide an outline of his political views.

Abortion

In his write-in response to a 1998 survey, Obama stated his abortion position as: "Abortions should be legally available in accordance with Roe v. Wade."

Economic policy

Obama has expressed support for elements of neo-liberalism, protectionism, and social welfare. He wrote: "we should be asking ourselves what mix of policies will lead to a dynamic free market and widespread economic security, entrepreneurial innovation and upward mobility [...] we should be guided by what works." Speaking before the National Press Club in April 2005, he defended the New Deal social welfare policies of Franklin D. Roosevelt, associating Republican proposals to establish private accounts for Social Security with Social Darwinism. In a May 2006 letter to President Bush, he joined four other midwest farming state Senators in calling for the preservation of a $0.54 per gallon tariff on imported ethanol.

Obama spoke out in June 2006 against making recent, temporary estate tax cuts permanent, calling the cuts a "Paris Hilton" tax break for "billionaire heirs and heiresses." Speaking in November 2006 to members of Wake Up Wal-Mart, a union-backed campaign group, Obama said: "You gotta pay your workers enough that they can actually not only shop at Wal-Mart, but ultimately send their kids to college and save for retirement."

Health care

On January 25 2007, Obama spoke about his position on health care at Families USA, a health care advocacy group. Obama said, "The time has come for universal health care in America . . . I am absolutely determined that by the end of the first term of the next president, we should have universal health care in this country." Obama went on to say that he believed that it was wrong that forty-six million Americans are uninsured, noting that taxpayers already pay over $15 billion dollars annually to care for the uninsured.

Immigration

On immigration reform, Obama has said that he "will not support any bill that does not provide [an] earned path to citizenship for the undocumented population." Obama supports a guestworker program.

In September 2006, Obama supported the Secure Fence Act, authorizing the construction of 700 miles of fencing along along the United States–Mexico border.

Net Neutrality

In a June 2006 podcast, Obama expressed support for telecommunications legislation to protect network neutrality on the internet, saying: "It is because the Internet is a neutral platform that I can put out this podcast and transmit it over the Internet without having to go through any corporate media middleman. I can say what I want without censorship or without having to pay a special charge. But the big telephone and cable companies want to change the Internet as we know it."

Iran

During his 2004 Senate campaign, Obama stated that he had not ruled out military action against Iran. In a meeting with the Chicago Tribune editorial board, Obama stated: "The big question is going to be, if Iran is resistant to these pressures, including economic sanctions, which I hope will be imposed if they do not cooperate, at what point are we going to, if any, are we going to take military action?" To separate this stance from the Bush Administration's, Obama stressed that he would only resort to force as a last resort. Obama has not declared a change in this stance since the 2004 campaign. In 2006, he called on Iran to "take some ownership for creating some stability" in Iraq.

Iraq

Obama was an early opponent of Bush administration policies on Iraq in times when other Democratic leaders supported the legislation that led to the war. Obama was not in office and was therefore unable to vote during the famous Iraq Resolution of 11 October 2002, authorizing the use of force against Iraq. However, during a fall, 2002 anti-war rally at Chicago's Federal Plaza, in a speech anlongside Jesse Jackson, Obama stated: "I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars. [...] You want a fight, President Bush? Let's finish the fight with Bin Laden and al-Qaeda, through effective, coordinated intelligence, and a shutting down of the financial networks that support terrorism, and a homeland security program that involves more than color-coded warnings." Speaking before the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in November 2006, he said: "The days of using the war on terror as a political football are over. [...] It is time to give Iraqis their country back, and it is time to refocus America's efforts on the wider struggle yet to be won." In his speech Obama also called for a phased withdrawal of American troops starting in 2007, and an opening of diplomatic dialogue with Iraq's neighbors, Syria and Iran.

On January 30 2007, Obama introduced the "Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007" into Congress. Among other things, the Act calls for capping the level of troops in Iraq at January 2007 levels, and for commencing a phased redeployment of US forces from Iraq "with the goal of removing all combat brigades from Iraq by March 31 2008, a date that is consistent with the expectation of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group.

Energy

Obama and other Senators introduced the BioFuels Security Act in 2007. "It's time for Congress to realize what farmers in America's heartland have known all along - that we have the capacity and ingenuity to decrease our dependence on foreign oil by growing our own fuel," Obama said.

Religion

Obama has encouraged Democrats to reach out to evangelicals and other church-going people, saying, "if we truly hope to speak to people where they’re at—to communicate our hopes and values in a way that’s relevant to their own—we cannot abandon the field of religious discourse."