Barack for a Better America

I'm the political journalist for my school's newspaper, and I wrote this when the 2008 Primary Elections were going on. I wrote one for each candidate. I was a freshman when I wrote this. I'm adding this so I can enter it into a contest.

 

Forty-six year old Barack Obama is not only one of the two senators for Illinois, a Harvard Law School graduate and a candidate in the 2008 election for President of the United States – he’s also a loving husband, father of two, and winner of a Grammy award.  When he announced his presidency in February 2007, he said he was in the race not because he wanted to hold an office, but because he wants to transform the nation and to build a better America. Now, almost a year and 45 million dollars later, his plans for a better America are formed.

                If he is elected president, he plans on ending the war and will immediately begin withdrawing troops from Iraq. Obama stated that he will withdraw one or two combat brigades a month, having all combat brigades out within a period of sixteen months. He also promised that no permanent bases would be built in Iraq. Although, if Al Qaeda attempts to build a base within Iraq, he said he will keep some troops in Iraq or within the region to carry out targeted strikes on the group.

                Since 2000, the amount of illegal immigrants has raised more than 40 percent. Obama plans to lower the amount of illegal immigrants by removing incentives for them to enter the country. He plans on strictly regulating employers of illegal immigrants and by helping Mexico develop economically, decreasing the amount of undocumented immigrants. Obama stated that he wants to create more secure boarders by hiring more personnel to work at the border. “’Time to fix our broken immigration system is now…We need stronger enforcement on the boarder and at the workplace…”  Obama said on May 23^rd 2007 on the Senate floor.

                Barack Obama also has big plans for reforming the American education system. Fifteen-year-olds in America rank 28^th out of 40 countries in math and 19^th out of 40 in science. Many first-year college students have to take below-standard math and science courses simply because they aren’t well enough prepared. To solve this problem, Obama plans to strengthen the math and science curriculum and search for teachers with math and science degrees.

Obama also plans to lower the high school drop-out rate, which is one of the highest in the world. Currently, only seventy percent of high school students graduate with a diploma. Barak Obama plans on providing funding to school districts to invest in a variety of different things involving personalized academic plans, parent involvement, mentoring and stronger reading programs.

In the past five years, college costs have gone up by forty percent, and because of the high costs, between the years of 2001 and 2010 over two million high school seniors will not go to college. Obama supports various college programs to encourage young adults and high school seniors coming from low income families to attend and prepare for college. These programs include GEAR UP, TRIO, and Upward Bound.

“’This isn’t just about the past, it’s about the future…”’ Barack Obama said. With his plans, Barak Obama may just be able to transform the nation and build a better America if he is elected President of the United States in the upcoming 2008 elections in November.

               

Author's Note

I wrote this in my freshman year for the newspaper. I don't have access to the edited copy right now, so yeah.

Reviews

[Olivia Long]

Go Obama!

[Scott Free]

Very well written!
Even I, who don't support Obama, thought that this was a good persuasive argument for his cause. It was an informative read.