[GPCA Updates] Fwd: GP RELEASE Greens: Obama, in State of the Union speech, must reverse his failed policies

[Green Party of California Updates]

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, January 27, 2010



Greens: Obama, in his State of the Union speech, must reverse his
failed policies on health, war, climate change, fiscal responsibility,
jobs

• Online (audio/video) Green Party discussion and response to Obama's
State of the Union speech TONIGHT, featuring 2008 Green presidential
nominee and former US Rep. Cynthia McKinney, Green candidates, and
Green Party leaders, 6 pm to 9 pm PT, 9 pm to midnight ET:
http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus

• Green Party Speakers Bureau: Greens available to speak on various
issues: http://www.gp.org/speakers


WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party candidates and leaders called on
President Obama to announce a reversal in his administration's current
actions and policies when he delivers his 2010 State of the Union
address on Wednesday, January 27.

HEALTH CARE

• Lisa Green, 2010 Green candidate for the California State Assembly,
53rd District (http://www.votelisagreen.net): "The failure of the
Obama Adminstration to offer a health care plan passed that delivers
guaranteed coverage for all Americans will cost votes.  As the
Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party recently noted, a Republican senator
was elected last week in Massachusetts where many voters expressed
disappointment with the Democrats' insurance company bail-out plan
(http://green-rainbow.org/PressReleases/20100121_brown_win_signals_progressive_power.html).

  President Obama has admitted that Single-Payer is the best plan for
America.  There's still time for Mr. Obama to drop the current
legislation and demand the Single-Payer plan to expand Medicare to
cover every American.  By taking the high road now with a pitch for
Medicare For All in his State of the Union address, Mr. Obama could
undercut the criticism of Republicans and anti-reform ads placed by
corporate lobbies.  Support for Single-Payer from the President is
especially critical now in the wake of the Supreme Court's Citizens
United ruling, which promises a flood of corporate advertising in 2010
on behalf of those Democratic and Republican politicians willing to
sell out to the insurance, pharmaceutical, and other lobbies on health
care."

More: http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=291

GLOBAL WARMING

• Sheldon Schafer, astronomer and Illinois Green Candidate for
Congress, 18th District (http://www.schaferforcongress.info):
"President Obama's talk about green energy and a green economy has
turned out to be lip service.  He could turn that around during his
State of the Union speech by announcing that he no longer backs the
cap and trade scheme and will instead seek emissions reduction
mandates, and by demanding an end to the mountaintop coal removal that
is devastating West Virginia and other states and feeding climate
change.  Unfortunately, the actions of the US delegation at the
Copenhagen negotiations in December indicate that Mr. Obama is
compromising on the real steps necessary to curb climate change --
conservation, green conversion and retrofitting of infrastructure,
carbon taxes, greenhouse gas emissions rules, and a massive public
transportation program to reduce car traffic.  All of these would
create millions of jobs."

More: http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=276

SECURITY

• Jody Grage, treasurer of the Green Party of the United States:
"President Obama plans to talk about the menace of bioterrorism during
his State of the Union address.  Real security will come with peace
and international cooperation -- spurred by a reversal of current
foreign policies.  It won't come with preemptive invasions, bombs,
torture, or anti-constitutional surveillance.  Technology will enrich
military and government contractors and their stockholders, but it
won't eliminate threats against the American people.  The Green Party
condemns all acts of terrorism and violence against civilians anywhere
in the world and we demand punishment for all such crimes.  But these
criminals are only a tiny percentage of the world's people who have
real grievances against the US.  As the global climate heats up and
competition for dwindling resources grows more severe, the US must
find a humane and green path to security, or we'll face a global
catastrophe."

WAR

• George Martin, founding member of the Green Party's Black Caucus
(http://www.gp.org/committees/black) and New Mexico Green: "The Obama
Administration has expanded the US's military engagements and military
funding.  President Obama is sending thousands of more troops to
Afghanistan, extending the war into Pakistan.  His delayed plan for
withdrawal from Iraq would leave as many as 50,000 military personnel
to protect US access to Iraqi oil.  Mr. Obama has continued to aid
Israel in its military aggression against Palestinians.  Last June,
after the President urged humanitarian aid for people in Gaza, 2008
Green presidential nominee and former US Rep. Cynthia McKinney and
other Free Gaza activists tried to deliver such relief.  They were
illegally intercepted by the Israeli navy in international waters and
jailed, but the White House remained silent.  The policies of the
Obama Administration and Democratic Congress have shattered hopes that
we'd see a real change after eight years of Bush-Cheney."  (Mr. Martin
is also former national co-chair of United for Peace & Justice
(http://www.unitedforpeace.org) and national steering committee member
of Peace Action Education Fund Board
(http://www.peace-action.org/edfund.html).)

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

• Mark Dunlea, former chair of the Green Party of New York State:
"President Obama, in his address, will spout populist rhetoric against
Wall Street, but he's doing Wall Street's bidding with his domestic
spending freeze and offering a tiny, token jobs bill.  He intends to
target entitlements -- Social Security and Medicare -- rather than the
bloated military budget, tax cuts for the rich, and corporate welfare.
  With consumers and businesses over-indebted and shoring up their
balance sheets, the government has to be the spender of last resort.
This is an opportunity to build a clean, green energy and
transportation infrastructure and provide needed human services.  But
President Obama is talking like William Jennings Bryan while acting
like Herbert Hoover.  This isn't fiscal responsiblity, it's digging
America into a deeper hole."

JOBS, NOT INCARCERATION

• Matt Reichel, Illinois Green candidate for the US House, District 5
(http://www.mattreichel.us):  "President Obama has remained silent on
the prison-industrial complex, which has made the US the top
incarcerator in the world by feeding millions of people to private
prisons, which profit by filling up cells with poor, young, and Black
and Latino people.  He could help end this outrage by halting the war
on drugs and by announcing, in his State of the Union address, the
creation of a massive green jobs program.  Such programs put Americans
back to work during the Great Depression.  If enacted now, it will
help those who've lost jobs in the current recession, and also reduce
racial economic disparities, which have been ignored in the
'post-racial' age of Obama.  So far, Mr. Obama has devoted his
administration to bailing out Wall Street rather than Main Street and
Martin Luther King Boulevard."


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
• Green candidate database and campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Green Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/committees/ballot
• Green Party Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus

Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of
the United States
Fall 2009 issue now online
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog


~ END ~