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 There are a number of topics not in the presidential debates:
1.   Pre-emptive agression, occupation, & exploitation                   
2.   Corporate control of health care options and alternatives
3.   A shrinking middle class and increasing poverty

4.   Lower wages and higher food, fuel, and utility costs
5.   Failing secondary schools and prohibitive costs of higher education

6.   Corruption, Cronyism, and Crime among public officials
7.   Illegal wiretapping, torture, rendition, and “signing statements”
8.   Constitutional subversion and the suspension of habeaus corpus
9.   An abrogation of treaties and a rejection of the rules of war
10. Crippled federal agencies, inadequate security, undermined intelligence
11.  An executive branch which ignores congresss and the courts
12.  Our international reputation, credibility, and honor
13.  Fiscal collapse, skyrocketing deficits, incipient recession
14.  Disappearing pensions & Social Security Trust Funds
15.  Environmental degredation:  Dirtier water, air, & food supply 

16.  The Occupation of Iraq and the Palestinian territories
17.  Religious, fundamentalist, fanatacism at home and abroad
18.  Corporate adventurism, exploitation, and mercatilism
19.  Fear-Mongering, Lies, Propaganda, & Fraud
20.  Oil Industry Corruption, Arms Merchants, & War-Profiteering
  
This would be the short list…

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 There are many ways to parse the word faith.  “True” faith is not hearing disembodied voices, but consists of remembering who we are, and acting accordingly.  Personally, I do not believe in some anthropomorphic “king” of a god who resembles human beings.  But I am a man of faith.  I have faith that life is full of mysteries which are both beyond our ken and greater than us.  And while I may quibble with many bible verses…  (This magnificent text was written by notoriously fallible human beings) I take it on faith that hope and love are commensurable portions of those mysteries which we may acknowledge without full or immediate comprehension or any necessity of rational deconstruction.  Bush’s faith in a construct of God as a human, kinglike, judge, or warrior is rather primitive and dangerous.  I believe that every
human being is part of the human family.  That familial connection implies some duties and responsibilities to protect those
among us who might be young, weak, powerless, sick, poor, dispossessed, under seige, or at some other disadvantage.  This is not necessarily rational, but it is pragmatic and follows quite naturally, according to its own truth, from what we know of compassion. Such faith may move mountains, sustain families, and invest a nation or a people with hope, wisdom, and honor.  Unless I am mistaken, ”true belief” in the human capactity for “good” behavior, is meant to provide a counterpoint to the “false beliefs” of George Bush wherein disembodied voices (or delirium tremens) tell him to start wars, kill prisoners, or render people for toture, rape or murder.  ….It is not rational to ignore your senses or science, nor it this a tenant of any of the Abrahamic traditions (Judeo,
Christian, Muslim) This admonition is perhaps more typical a cult or nonsectarian brainwashing.  Those who have faith in
hope and compassion need not abandon rational thought nor scientific research.  And no “true” Muslim, Christian, or Jew 
would make such a ludicrous request.  There is no inherent contradiction between faith and reason, nor is there any necessary or fixed relationship between the the constructs.
   
Here are some interesting quotes…   
 
Thomas Jefferson:

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.

Albert Einstein:

Scientists were rated as great heretics by the church, but they were truly religious men because of their faith
in the orderliness of the universe.

E. B. White:

Democracy is itself, a religious faith. For some it comes close to being the only formal religion they have.

James Luther Adams:

The faith of a church or of a nation is an adequate faith only when it inspires and enables people to give of their time and energy to shape the various institutions — social, economic, and political — of the common life.

Obama has alread accomplished more in one year than Bush has accomplished in seven years. 
He is uniting the nation instead of dividing it. 

He is facing issues instead of hiding behind Karl Rove’s rhetoric.
Barack has reminded us who we are, what we stand for, and where we need to go from here.
His message has inspired hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Americans, to participatein our national debate.  He knows why the rule of law matters and what is at stake when we

ignore constitutional mandates and allow our freedom to be taken away. The change he
advocates is a return to grassroots activism, civic-engagement, and communities coming

together to make a better future for their children.  His rejection of war, deficits, and destruction…

and his embrace of peace, prosperity, and progress…. bodes well for this nation.

George Bush has sold us out with cronyism and corruption.  Endless war and fear-mongering to
encourage war-profiteering has crippled our nation for the next half century.  Barack has the
intelligence and integrity to put together the best and brightest minds so that our nation and our
people can find a way home.  His charismatic oratorical delivery can inspire our people to

overcome the obstacles which the current administration has created.  And he has not even

started his term of office. 

Barack may not be everything I want in a president.  But he is the best we have been offered

this season.  His life is a testament to public service and personal integrity. 

The short list of Barack’s accomplishments is below:

“Over 20 years of experience as a Senator, activist, community organizer and civil rights attorney: 3+ years as U.S. Senator, Illinois (2004-present), where he serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; 8 years as Illinois State Senator (1996-2004), where he served as the Democratic Spokesperson for the Public Health and Welfare Committee, as the Co-Chairman of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, and on the Judiciary and Revenue Committees; 11 years as Senior Lecturer on Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago Law School (1993-2004); 9+ years as a Civil Rights Attorney at the prestigious Chicago law firm Miner, Barnhill & Galland (1993-2002); Director of Illinois Project VOTE! (1992), which registered over 150,000 new minority voters in Chicago; Harvard Law School, J.D., Magna Cum Laude (1991); President of Harvard Law Review (1990-1991); 3 years as Director of the Developing Communities Project (1985-1988), where he worked in low-income areas of Chicago to create job-training facilities, remove asbestos and lead paint from local schools, and protect community interests; Columbia University, B.A., Political Science (specialization in international relations, 1983). He is also the best-selling author of the books Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope.

ECONOMY:
What He Has Done:
- In the U.S. Senate, introduced the STOP FRAUD Act to prevent mortgage fraud over a year before the current crisis
- Introduced the Patriot Employer Act of 2007 to give tax credits to companies who hire American workers
- Sponsored legislation in the Illinois State Senate to crack down on unethical lenders who prey on the poor

What He Will Do As President:
- Provide tax relief for low and middle-income workers and eliminate taxes for seniors making over $50,000 per year
- Create jobs at home by offering expanded loans and tax incentives to small businesses
- Restore fiscal discipline to Washington by reinstating PAYGO rules and reducing the deficit

HEALTH CARE:
What He Has Done:
- Cosponsored the Healthy Kids Act of 2007 and the SCHIP Reauthorization Act of 2007 to ensure that more children have affordable health care coverage
- Sponsored and passed a 2003 bill that expanded health care coverage to 70,000 children and 84,000 adults in Illinois
- Supported women’s health while in the Illinois and U.S. Senate: Created a task force on cervical cancer, provided greater access to breast and cervical cancer screenings, and helped improve prenatal and premature birth services

What He Will Do As President:
- Provide affordable, guaranteed health care coverage for all Americans, without penalizing those with limited incomes (If you prefer the plan you already have, you can keep it)
- Ensure that every child in America has high-quality health care coverage
- Lower costs by modernizing the health care system and allowing citizens to buy their medicines from other countries

IRAQ AND THE MIDDLE EAST:
What He Has Done:
- Publicly spoke out against the Iraq war in 2002, long before most politicians had the courage or judgment to do so
- Introduced legislation in 2007 to responsibly end the war, with a phased withdrawal of combat troops
- Passed the Lugar-Obama Act in 2007 with Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN) to increase U.S. security by eliminating conventional weapons and WMDs all over the world

What He Will Do As President:
- Immediately work to bring our soldiers home in a safe, responsible manner
- Redeploy diplomacy: As JFK said, “Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.”
- Ensure that Iran does not develop nuclear weapons
- Embrace Israel as a key ally while negotiating for peace in the Middle East

POVERTY:
What He Has Done:
- Lead the Developing Communities Project in Chicago to create jobs and housing for Chicago’s impoverished South Side
- Created Illinois’ Earned Income Tax Credit to give low-income working families $105 million in tax relief over three years
- Championed multiple bills in the State Senate to help low-income families find affordable housing

What He Will Do As President:
- Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit so more families are eligible
- Raise the minimum wage and tie it to inflation
- Create 20 Promise Neighborhoods in high-poverty and high-crime cities across the nation to provide early childhood education, youth violence prevention efforts and after-school activities to entire neighborhoods

WOMEN’S RIGHTS:
What He Has Done:
- Consistently protected a woman’s right to choose: 100% rating from Planned Parenthood and the NARAL
- Co-sponsored the 2007 Prevention First Act to reduce unintended pregnancies, focusing on family planning and education
- Introduced the 2007 Communities of Color Teen Prevention Act to combat unintended pregnancies in communities of color

What He Will Do As President:
- Make safeguarding Roe v. Wade a priority
- As the son of a single, working mother, Obama will fight to ensure that women receive the same pay as men
- Expand access to contraception, health information and preventative services

EDUCATION AND CHILDCARE:
What He Has Done:
- Helped create the Illinois Early Learning Council to increase early childhood programs and services
- Proposed a bill in the U.S. Senate to increase Pell grants for students from low-income families to attend college
- Introduced legislation to create Teacher Residency Programs and increase support for summer learning programs

What He Will Do As President:
- Expand access to high-quality early childhood education and child care so every child can enter kindergarten ready to learn
- Work to place effective, qualified teachers in every classroom, especially those in high-poverty, high-minority areas
- Reform No Child Left Behind: Support struggling schools instead of punishing them

WASHINGTON ETHICS:
What He Has Done:
- Unlike Hillary Clinton, Obama does not accept money from corporate lobbyists or PACs
- Passed a law to create “Google for Government,” allowing citizens to track federal spending online at www.usaspending.gov
- Proposed extensive ethics reform in the U.S. Senate and passed the toughest campaign finance law in Illinois history

What He Will Do As President:
- If the Republican candidate accepts, Obama has agreed for both candidates to receive public funding for the general election
- End the influence of corporate lobbyists in Washington
- Support extensive campaign finance reform

CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES:
What He Has Done:
- Passed a law making Illinois the first state to videotape police interrogations in order to limit police beatings and coercion
- Lead the biggest voter registration drive in Chicago history, registering 150,000 new minority voters
- In Illinois, passed one of the country’s first anti-racial profiling laws and helped reform the broken death penalty system

What He Will Do As President:
- Ensure fair pay for all people, regardless of race, gender, or orientation
- End deceptive voting practices and voter intimidation
- Advocate rehabilitation instead of prison for first-time drug offenders

IMMIGRATION:
What He Has Done:
- Championed a proposal to create a system for employers to verify if their employees are legally eligible to work in the U.S.
- Introduced the Citizenship Promotion Act to ensure that immigration application fees are reasonable and fair
- Introduced and passed legislation to improve the speed and accuracy of FBI background checks
What He Will Do As President:
- Secure the borders with additional personnel, infrastructure and technology and crack down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants
- Improve and modernize our immigration system to encourage people to come here legally
- Promote economic development in Mexico to discourage illegal immigration to the U.S.

ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT:
What He Has Done:
- Passed legislation to give gas stations a tax credit for installing E85 ethanol refueling pumps
- Sponsored an amendment that became law to provide $40 million in funding for the creation of hybrid cars
- Worked with Republicans and Democrats to create a new plan to increase fuel economy standards

What He Will Do As President:
- Invest $150 billion over 10 years in Clean Energy resources
- Reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050
- Support renewable energy by requiring that 25% of U.S. electricity is renewable by 2025

SUPPORTERS:
Sen. Bill Bradley, Warren Buffett, Pres. Jimmy Carter, George Clooney, Susan Eisenhower, Gov. Christine Gregoire, Gov. Tim Kaine, Caroline Kennedy, Ethel Kennedy, Sen. Ted Kennedy, Sen. John Kerry, Sen. Dennis Kucinich, Sen. Patrick Leahy, Toni Morrison, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, Maria Shriver, Paul Volcker, Judge Patricia M. Wald, Oprah Winfrey

Read more at www.barackobama.com