We did that in the Clinton-Gore Administration and look what it produced: more than 22 million jobs; record surpluses, the lowest employment and poverty rates in a generation; and record numbers of families sending their kids to college, investing for retirement, and buying their own homes.

President Bush’s policies are putting the American Dream in jeopardy.  I like tax cuts—but the President’s tax cuts are ineffective, unfair, and unaffordable. They won’t produce new opportunities or grow the middle class.  What they mostly will do is grow the deficit.

The economic leadership deficit in Washington has already added millions of Americans to the unemployment rolls; created the worst climate for business investment in 50 years; and dug enormous deficits that are mortgaging our children’s future and making it harder to meet our commitments—from homeland security to Social Security.

I’ve laid out a comprehensive plan to jumpstart our economy, create new jobs and bring back long-term, high-octane growth—without digging us deeper into debt. Among other things, it calls for sending a new cash tax rebate to the 34 million taxpayers who didn’t get one in 2001; giving businesses an immediate tax credit to invest in new information technology; implementing a New Jobs Tax Credit for businesses to encourage immediate hiring revving up the biotechnology, nanotechnology, and broadband Internet industries to produce high-paying high-tech jobs; and putting in place a specially designed zero capital gains rate for investments in new and expanding businesses.  If we make set our priorities straight and make the right investments, we can get our economy moving again.

Protecting Our People
The Commander-in-Chief’s most important responsibility is to keep America safe. And the best way to stay safe is to stay strong.

That means we must continue to invest in our military to ensure that it remains the finest fighting force on the planet.  And when tyrants threaten us with weapons of mass destruction, we must not hesitate to use our military might, if necessary, to protect our people.  We need a President who will be strong enough to deploy our military when necessary — and wise enough to reach out to all the nations of the world to build alliances for peace.

We must recognize that we are in the midst of a new kind of war—one that demands constant vigilance. We must relentlessly pursue terrorists across the globe, using not just our military but all economic, diplomatic, and political tools at our disposal, while at the same time raising our guard here at home.  I first proposed creating a Department of Homeland Security in October 2001—eight months before President Bush reversed course to support the idea.

I’ve continued to push for innovative ways to improve homeland security.  I have put forward plans to connect the intelligence dots that were out of sync, with disastrous results, on September 11th; to refocus our National Guard on its historic mission of civil defense; spur private sector development of the vaccines we need to protect against chemical and biological weapons. And I am fighting to get local police officers and firefighters the training and technology they need to effectively fight terrorism in our local communities.

Improving Our Schools
Growing up in Connecticut, I got a great public school education—and was the first in my family to go on to college.  Unfortunately, too many of America’s schools are teaching too few of our children the skills they need to succeed in today’s competitive information economy.  That needs to change.  All our kids deserve the opportunity to climb the learning ladder—and go as far in life as their God-given talents will take them.

For my entire career in public life, I have led the fight to reform and improve public education in America.  I believe in investing in reform, and insisting on results.  That means setting high standards, providing schools with the flexibility to innovate, giving them the support they need to meet the challenges they face, and then holding them accountable for results.    It also means  giving more parents more choices within the public school system, which I have sought to do by expanding the number of charter schools.  And as we go about the hard work of raising standards, I have pushed to substantially increase funding too.  Quality teachers don’t come free.

Living up to the American promise of equal opportunity also means bringing college into reach for more families.  My dad worked days and nights to save enough to put me through school — but these days, it’s impossible for most parents to afford rapidly rising tuitions, even on two incomes.  That’s why I am developing a comprehensive reform plan to make college more affordable — and to make sure that, when they graduate, students have the high-level skills they need to succeed in our economy.

Safeguarding Our Environment
The Bush Administration’s irresponsible policies have placed the quality of our air, water, and land in greater jeopardy than at any time in a generation.  Instead of protecting our environment, President Bush consistently chooses  protecting those despoil it.

As Connecticut’s Attorney General, I prosecuted polluters and made them pay.  In the Senate, I’ve worked hard to clean up industrial waste, safeguard air and water quality, and protect our natural parks and forests.  Now, I’m committed to advancing that legacy. I am working to stop President Bush from dismantling dozens of important environmental protections. I am fighting attempts to open the precious Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. And, teaming up with Senator John McCain, I’ve proposed an innovative new plan to combat global warming by harnessing market forces — not building new government bureaucracies.

As President, I will launch an unprecedented campaign to wean ourselves from our addiction to foreign oil—developing clean, plentiful, and affordable sources of energy right here at home.  We have the creativity and ingenuity to declare energy independence. With the right leadership, we can — and strengthen our security in the process.

Honoring Our Values
When men and women are putting their lives on the line for American values halfway around the world, we must all stand up for — and live up to — those values here at home.  Yet n too many realms of American life, we’ve seen a dangerous drift away from fundamental values of honesty,  responsibility, and civility toward a single-minded focus on the bottom line.

We’ve seen it in Hollywood, where higher ticket counts are used to rationalize mounting body counts. We’ve seen it in Washington, where the big money raised from a small number of well-connected donors has too often eclipsed the critical concerns of millions of average Americans.  We’ve seen it on Wall Street, where too many managers have seemed willing to pay any moral price to drive up their stock price. 

That’s why I fought for the V-chip law giving parents new tools to help shield their children from offensive and harmful programs on television, and why I have successfully pushed the video game industry to create a rating system to help parents make informed choices for their children. That’s why I fought for real campaign finance reform. And that’s why as Connecticut’s Attorney General, I went after businesses that tried to cheat consumers, and in the Senate,  fought to close loopholes that allow some of our largest companies to dodge taxes.

It's also why I have been a strong supporter of creating a larger, lawful space for faith in our public life.  Throughout our history, religion has been a unifying force, strengthened our sense of purposes, and helped change our country for the better and bring us closer to our ideals — the civil rights movement being a perfect case in point.  Faith has also been a powerful source of values, raising us up as we struggle with our own imperfections and strive to live a moral life.  And faith is the fount of countless simple, daily acts of kindness and humanity by individuals and organizations — from giving a homeless man a blanket to wrapping a child in a warm embrace to caring for the ill —that cumulatively elevate this nation.

I believe we can do more to harness that limitless spirit for the good of America.  That is why I have worked to forge stronger partnerships with religious organizations as well as community groups to help us help more people in need.  Most recently, I put forward a plan to spur more private giving to charities, provide technical assistance to smaller faith-based and non-profit groups to help them get access to federal funding, knock down barriers that prevent faith-based groups from fairly participating in federal programs, and substantially increase our support for local caregivers through the Social Services Block Grant program

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