A growing majority of people want to end the war and use the funds diverted to it to invest in the ailing US economy and improve people's lives here, according to a recent Associated Press poll.
According to the survey, 48 percent of Americans see ending the Iraq war as the best way to solve the economic crisis, and another 20 percent believe bringing the troops home is a way to fix the recession at least "somewhat." In other words, almost 7 in 10 Americans (including almost 1 in 5 self-identified Republicans) see the war as some sort of roadblock to economic recovery.
The responses on this survey indicate that most people do not separate out issues like the economy and the war and health care (etc.) as is suggested by some political campaigns, the corporate media, and pundits. For example, pundits have repeatedly suggested Hillary Clinton draws more support from people who think the economy is the biggest issue, while Barack Obama draws more support from voters who care more about the war.
This poll shows quite the opposite. Voters link the economic cost of the war to the fact of dwindling good jobs here, rising energy prices, lack of resources to boost state and local economies, and disappearing funds for needed public services like education, health care, roads and public transportation, and investment in new growth.
More telling was the fact that more people in the survey ranked ending the war and increasing investments in domestic programs above more tax cuts, the ideological standard of the Republican Party, as the best remedy for the recession. Indeed, the respondents in the survey ranked more tax cuts dead last on the list, signaling a huge shift in thought patterns away from Republican Party ideas.
Americans also appear to be skeptical of the potential effectiveness of the economic stimulus package just passed in Congress. The $168 billion package would provide rebates ranging from $300 to $1,200 for working families, seniors, and disabled veterans. Republicans in the Senate initially filibustered a more expansive Democratic proposal to boost funds for anti-poverty programs, health care programs, and investments in infrastructure and alternative energy jobs.
Just 1 in 5 people say they will spend the tax rebate; most indicated they would use the money to catch up on bills.
The labor movement shared a similar concern that better, further-reaching solutions have been blocked. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney sharply criticized the limited scope of the economic stimulus package. "While it is appropriate for Congress to focus on measures that have an immediate economic impact as it crafts a short-term stimulus package," he said in a press statement prior to the bill's passage, "this is no excuse to put our heads in the sand and do nothing about the underlying longer-term problems afflicting our economy."
The AFL-CIO proposed a longer-term plan that includes an extension of unemployment benefits for the growing number of long-term employed (already higher than during the 2001 recession), an increase of food stamp benefits, fiscal relief for state and local governments facing tough budget decisions, and most importantly stem the loss of construction-related jobs resulting from the housing crisis by boosting investments in infrastructure repair and development.
To this the Change to Win (CtW) federation of labor unions added the importance of freeing working families from the burden of rising medical costs by creating an affordable universal health care system and reexamining trade policy. CtW President Anna Burger said, “It is also vital for Congress to provide a long-term plan to stimulate the economy that includes developing comprehensive health care reform, ending free trade deals that send our jobs overseas, and initiating a long-term program to rebuild America’s infrastructure.”
Presidential hopeful Barack Obama appeared to vocalize this confluence of sentiment yesterday on the campaign trail. In a substantive speech on the economy at a GM auto plant in Janesville, Wisconsin, Barack Obama tied the ongoing war in Iraq to the economic fortunes of the US. Obama pointed to "a failure of leadership and imagination" in Washington that has led to the current economic crisis.
In addition to bad trade and tax policies that benefit the very rich and large corporations at the expense of the environment and working families in the US, Obama argued that his opponents in the election campaign have to share some of the blame.
"[P]oliticians like John McCain and Hillary Clinton," he stated, "voted for a war in Iraq that should’ve never been authorized and never been waged – a war that is costing us thousands of precious lives and billions of dollars a week that could have been used to rebuild crumbling schools and bridges; roads and buildings; that could’ve been invested in job training and child care; in making health care affordable or putting college within reach."
Obama detailed several concrete proposals to tackle the economic crisis directly. Obama would provide tax relief to working families, invest in the country's infrastructure, protect homeowners from foreclosure and fraud, provide affordable universal health care, increase access to higher education, invest in "green" energy job creation, and promote trade policies that create jobs in the country.
The opinions of the majority of people and the labor movement expressed here pose a huge obstacle for the presidential aspirations of John McCain who has promised to prolong the war, protect the legacy of the Bush administration, and essentially serve as its surrogate after Bush leaves office.
