Huntsman Blasts Obama, Romney and Gingrich
Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 3:53PMAt the National Press Club on Thursday, GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman criticized President Obama and fellow GOP presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich for their lack of trust.
“America suffers from a deficit of dollars and jobs. We also suffer from a deficit of trust ‑ trust in our institutions of power, from Washington to Wall Street,” Huntsman declared.
“The president came to office with a mandate to restore trust in Washington,” Huntsman continued, “yet his inexperience and failure to lead have left us worse off.”
Huntsman continued to criticize President Obama for wasting “an entire year jamming through a health care plan the American people didn’t ask for and can’t afford,” rather than focusing on developing a plan to improve the economy.
“My opponents offer no better,” Huntsman added in reproach of Romney and Gingrich.
Huntsman categorized Romney as a candidate who “will say anything to earn the voter’s trust” and Gingrich as a product of that same Washington, who participated in the excesses of our broken and polarized political system.”
“We have a choice in this race between a panderer-in-chief, a lobbyist-in-chief and a commander-in-chief,” Huntsman stated as he noted that he was the commander-in-chief.
Huntsman then laid out a seven-fold plan to revive the American economy and restore trust in Washington:
1. Reform tax code – eliminate loopholes and subsidies to lower rates across the board for individuals and businesses
2. Cut spending throughout government – reform entitlement programs based on the Ryan plan, while maintaining commitments to those already in retirement
3. “Make sure no financial entity is too big to fall” – break up big banks on Wall Street
4. Adopt comprehensive energy strategy that frees the US from foreign oil and eliminates all energy subsidies
5. Systematically streamline regulations to make free, fair and competitive marketplace
6. Bring troops home from Afghanistan while leaving an effective counterterrorism presence
7. Amend constitution such that there are term limits for Congress – six two-year terms for House members and two six-year terms for senators.
“You may not agree with me on every single issue,” Huntsman concluded, “but you’ll always know exactly where I stand, and I will never waver from my conservative convictions.”
Education Costs, Health Care Will Likely Sway Youth Vote
By Adrianna McGinley
Youth leaders and policy experts cited rising costs in education, health care, child care, and housing as key issues for winning the young vote in 2012.
The discussion at the Center for American Progress was based on a recent report from the think tank Demos and the Young Invincibles entitled “The State of Young America”.
Heather McGhee, Demos’ Washington office Director, noted the report shows that while college tuition has tripled over the last few decades, federal aid has been cut in half. A maximum pell grant that she said covered 69 percent of costs in 1980, today only covers 34 percent. She added that in 2010 the amount of student debt surpassed that of credit card debt and 76 percent of participants in the study reported it has become harder in the last five years to afford college.
McGhee said these numbers make young people “more oriented towards public solutions, more willing to pay higher taxes for higher degrees of service from the government than any generation since the depression generation.”
Aaron Smith, Co-founder and Executive Director of the Young Invincibles, said Congress has the power to help youth but only if they make their voices heard. Smith cited Obama’s Affordable Care Act as “an example of how Congress can really step up to the plate and address one of these big long-term challenges,” and added it would be a grave mistake for Congress to repeal it in 2012.
“Going backwards is obviously, I think, exactly the wrong move…we’re going to be doing more work in the Fall to educate young people about what the health care law actually means for them,” Smith said. “Once you have the education I think then you’re prepared to sort of become an advocate, to tell your story, to explain ‘yes…I’m a young person, but healthcare really does matter to my life,’ and we found that when those stories are told, it can be quite powerful and change the political debate.”
The panel also touched on immigration issues.
Eduardo Garcia, Advocacy Associate for Campus Progress, said the 2012 election will depend on how the administration continues to deal with the undocumented population.
“Young people are very much feeling the impacts of some of the harmful deportation policies that the administration has adopted, and I think that it’s especially hurtful because many of those folks turned out in 2008 to get this president elected.”
The panel cited immigration reform as a possible key to economic recovery as well, saying that while 54 percent of all young adults have or want to start a business, that rate for minority youth is over 60 percent.
Ronnie Cho, White House Liaison to Young Americans and Associate Director of the Office of Public Engagement, said it is up to youth to make their voices heard.
“It is incumbent upon ourselves to really assert ourselves, not ask for an invitation to be a part of the discussion, because that’s simply not going to happen and it hasn’t happened…that’s why the discussion hasn’t been around how this affects young people,” Cho said. “It is our time to emerge as this force to be reckoned with.”
McGhee added that while young voters need to stand up, the federal government must continue to protect voters rights, citing that in 2010, 31 states passed voter ID laws that could inhibit youth from voting since over a third of 18 year olds do not have a federally issued ID.