Is Barack Obama All Talk?

Every few days, when I need a break from my audio books, I'll listen to the news and talk radio while driving. Over the years, I've just gotten used to listening to KGO Newstalk 810. With the Democratic primaries finally over (now that Clinton has endorsed Obama), there have been a few shows letting listeners chime in and express their thoughts on Obama as a candidate. What irks me is that there are quite a few listeners that still say Barack Obama may give a good speech, but in the end he doesn't really have any plans (for health care, withdrawal from Iraq, the economy, whatever issue that listener cares about). I think the last time this happened, a Clinton supporter called in on Gil Gross's program and stated that she was afraid the American people were adopting a "wait and see" attitude concerning Obama. She felt that people were just voting for Obama because the alternatives reminded them too much of our current administration and that this was very dangerous since Obama is all talk and doesn't have a plan for health care or Iraq. The host of the show (don't know if it was Gil since I tuned in late, but it sounded like Gil) agreed with her! I have a BIG problem with this.

I don't know who started it (was it Hillary Clinton's campaign or McCain's or someone else) but there's this "rumor" going around that Barack Obama gives great speeches, but in the end he doesn't have a firm plan to make any real changes. People I talk to seem confused about his stance on taxes, how his plan for health care differs from Clinton's plan, and seem to believe he wants to pull all the troops out of Iraq on Day One. Unfortunately, people believe what they want to believe and don't bother investigating for themselves.

As a society, we get the majority of our news in sound bites - five to 20 second snippets providing an overview of what someone thinks or what happened. If we're lucky, there's a 30 min. (including commercials) program devoted to a topic where we can learn more OR even a documentary. That's all great, but people forget how much information can be found in the WRITTEN word. Almost all articles on CNN.com or your local newspaper's website will have more information than any spot on a televised or radio newscast. Even then, those articles should be examined with a pessimistic attitude - the journalist often is out of his depth and does not fully understand the details and intricacies of what they are reporting (very few things in life are uncomplicated and the probability that an event assigned to a reporter will match precisely with their area of expertise - sometimes it happens and it's great to read those reports because journalists have a way with words that most experts do not) OR due to space constraints, there really isn't as much info as there should be.

In some areas, we're lucky. Sometimes it's hard to find out the truth or what the actual facts are, but, in the case of Barack Obama's policy plans, they are publicly available. There's no reason to read them second or third hand from a news article or a television commercial. It's all right there on his campaign website. There can be no debate about it - this is what he says. (There can be debate about whether or not the plans are worthwhile, will affect the right people, etc., but the fact that he has plans is not up for debate.) Somehow a large part of the population is unaware of his plans and thinks he just talks about them and is full of hot air - just like all the other politicians.

In fact, Barack Obama is the only candidate to make available detailed plans for ever major issue his campaign is based on. I'm not talking about the one page fact sheets that Hillary Clinton or John McCain calls their "detailed" plans. I'm talking about fifteen page overviews covering each aspect of his plan complete with references so you can check the figures and the background of the assumptions yourself. (Obama also has the two page high level sheet, but it's providing the real details that sets him apart.) How is it possible that the only candidate to actually formulate detailed plans and publish them publicly for everyone to read be the only one accused on a consistent basis of being all talk and no plan?

I'm using the rest of this post to provide download links so people can download and read for themselves his actual plans. If someone can find the same level of detail on McCain's plans, please leave a comment with where to download them.

Health Care
Health Care Plan
Health Care FAQ

Economics
Economic Plan
Small Business Economic Plan
Plan to protect homeownership and crack down on mortgage fraud

Iraq
Iraq Plan

Environment and Energy
Environment Plan
Energy Plan

Education
Pre-Kindergarten to 12th Grade Education Plan
College Affordability Plan

There's a bunch more available at BarackObama.com.