Barack Obama

Barack k Obam ma

Poliitics

Englishh

Barack Obama O The worldd has been n holding its i breath to t see how w American ns vote. Wouuld they ch hoose to stay on the same path h and electt John McC Cain, a Rep publican, or o would th hey choose to vote for changge and for new policiies, and eleect Barackk Obama? With the USA the only o real suuperpowerr in the wo orld, t choosse affects us u all. whoever they This electtion is prob bably one of the mo ost excitingg ones in recent tim mes. Recorrd amountss have beeen spent on n the campaign ns (the Rep publicans have h spentt just underr $200m while the Democratts have speent just un nder $400m m) and record nuumbers of Americanss are expeccted to vote. Many commenttators are focusing f on what hap ppens in th he "swing states" (sttates that could c go eiither way) of Floridaa, Ohio and Pennsylvaania Apart from the inteense mediaa coverage,, the intern net has also played a huge partt in these his the "Yo ouTube eleection", buut other ap pplicationss (such as elections. Some havve called th Twitter) are a demon nstrating th he power of o networkking. Tens of thousan nds of Tw witter users can reporrt their exp periences of o voting, providing p w sysstem of anyy an early warning problems. The man n Obama fiirst came to t nationall attention in 2004 ass a candidaate for Sen nate in Illin nois, where he impressedd people with w his chaarisma and d his appeaal to end p partisan and d racial politics. His policcies Obama has fought his presideential camp paign on three t priorrities: endin ng the Iraqq War as p in ncreasing energy indeependencee, and provviding univversal healtth care. soon as possible, Obama opposed th he Bush administratio on's policiees on Iraq and he waants to beggin an wal of US troops andd to have all a troops out o within n about 16 months. immediate withdraw w direcct talks witth Syria andd Iran, alth hough he does d not rrule out eco onomic He also wants action to prevent Irran's nuclear program mme. O p policies app peal to Am mericans who w are sufffering in tthe econom mic Many of Obama's downturn n. He prop poses to inccrease taxees for high h earners, but b to abolish them for older people on n low incom mes and to o give tax breaks to companiess that creaate jobs. He also voted for the goverrnment's reecent finan ncial €700b bn rescue package p earnwell Oy 2008 English materialls by Veronica Gilhooly © Le

Politics

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Politics

Barack Obama

English

His appeal His youth and charisma have appealed to many young voters, as well as to middle class and working class voters from all ethnic backgrounds. His own family is racially diverse: he has six half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family, and a half-sister from his mother and her Indonesian second husband. During his campaign, he consistently appealed for change, to create a new America which was not divided along racial lines. In his victory speech, he emphasised his message of national unity, and called on all Americans to help him. "America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do." Obama also has great international appeal, and people in many different countries support him and his policies. In his message to people outside America, he said: "To all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world – our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand." Obama will take up presidency in January 2009. And Obama, who once described himself as a "skinny kid with a funny name" will be the first black President in American history. A true symbol of change and hope. http://www.english-at-home.com/reading/

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English materials by Veronica Gilhooly © Learnwell Oy 2008

Politics

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