Looking Out for Our Children: Which Presidential Candidate is the Best Choice for the Well-being of Children?

 

Weighing in the balance in the 2012 presidential election is the education, health, and well-being of America's children. It is my considered opinion, as a staunch advocate for child safety and for the future of children, that President Obam offers the best hope for our nation's children. He has the best plan for their education and for their health and health care coverage.

President Obama plans to prepare our kids for success by educating every American student to graduate from high school prepared for college and for a career. That is a national imperative. He doesn’t consider higher education a luxury. It’s his belief that earning a post-secondary degree or credential is a prerequisite for 21st century jobs and one that everyone should be able to afford.

President Obama believes in supporting great teachers. He believes that we need great educators to teach our children the math and science skills that will enable them to compete for jobs in the future. His plan calls for hiring more and better teachers.

President Obama’s educational plan is designed to help early learners.  He has stated that a child’s first years offer a critically important window of opportunity to develop skills that determine their success.

He has advocated the Race to the Top program. Now 22 million K-12 students are benefitting from President Obama’s historic reforms. Obama’s agenda has amplified ideas that have been simmering around the country, including those championed by Republicans, among them the push to give parents more choice about where children attend school and to blast apart a long-standing system that rewarded teachers for longevity but not necessarily effectiveness.

The president has said changes are needed to close the persistent gap between poor and privileged students, drive up high school graduation rates, and produce a workforce that can compete globally.

President Obama, in instituting the Affordable Care Act, has greatly benefitted children as well as Americans of all ages. Under the Affordable Care Act, young adults under age 26 can stay on their parent’s health insurance plan until age 26 – a change that has already allowed 3.1 million young adults to get health coverage and given their families peace of mind.

The Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan in every State offers an option to people who have been locked out of the insurance market because of a pre-existing condition like cancer or heart disease. And under the new law, insurers can no longer deny coverage to children under age 19 because of a pre-existing condition like asthma and diabetes. Starting in 2014, health insurers will be prohibited from discriminating against anyone due to pre-existing conditions. Obama Care also has preventive benefits. All new health plans must now cover preventive services ranging from mammograms to vaccinations for your child, without making you pay a co-pay or deductible.

Quoting part of Republican New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in his endorsement of President Obama, “When I step into the voting booth, I think about the world I want to leave my two daughters, and the values that are required to guide us there. The two parties' nominees for president offer different visions of where they want to lead America.” Like Bloomberg, I also feel that President Obama is the clear choice for the well-being of all our sons & daughters, and grandsons, & granddaughters. When I cast my vote for President Obama on November 6^th, I will certainly be thinking about my children and my granddaughters and the world that they will be living in, even long after I’m gone.

The choice is a clear one.  President Obama believes a woman's right to choose should be protected for future generations. He believes that a woman, rather than politicians, should be making her own health care decisions. President Obama believes in equal pay for women. That is why the first bill President Obama signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act on January 29, 2009.  Equal pay is, , an economic stimulator, and President Obama recognizes that fact. Governor Romney does not support any of the aforementioned protections for women.

In the wake of the devastating destruction of Hurricane Sandy, I must state that President Obama’s position on global warming and his plans for protecting our environment to address the very real threat of global warming is the clear choice for leaving a safer planet for our children. President Obama sees climate change as an urgent problem that threatens our planet. Governor Romney does not. Quoting again from Mayor Bloomberg’s endorsement of President Obama, “I want our president to place scientific evidence and risk management above electoral politics.”

This Child Safety Blog strongly endorses President Obama for a second term. We must move forward!