All-American Presidential Forums on PBS" Moderated by Tavis Smiley

FORUM RESPONSES

"I want to share the remarks of Barack Obama because the fact of the matter is that racial inequality is real, that it affects every area of our lives as the "Covenant" pointed out. Now what's interesting, the philosophy that's guiding leaders in the Executive and the Judicial branch of government because they go out and tell people, "Pull yourselves up by your bootstraps" and then they steal their boots.

We need to have a policy, an education, which first of all is guided by certain fundamental rights. Jesse Jackson, Jr. has a bill that makes having an equal opportunity for education a matter of a constitutional privilege. With this Supreme Court ruling, it is imperative that we have a constitutional amendment guaranteeing educational opportunity equality.

In the meantime, universal pre-kindergarten. Every child age three, four and five should have access to full quality daycare. Eliminate those disparities that we see early on in school. Eliminate No Child Left Behind, which is aimed at testing instead of improving children's educational opportunity through language, music and the arts. Finally, we need to take the resources away from war and military buildup and assure that every child should have a chance for a quality college education as well. Thank you."

"Dr. King recognized that, when there's a war, people of two countries suffer. Because what he was talking about was the link between war and fear and poverty as opposed to peace and security and prosperity. So when we shift the paradigm of this country away from war, then we start to have the resources which must be there for education, for universal pre-kindergarten, for fully-funded elementary and secondary education, for college for all.

But we have to remember that, with a nation right now that will spend anywhere from one to two trillion dollars on this war, that is money out of the educational lives of our children. We need to remember the connection. I'm ready to see at least a fifteen percent reduction in that bloated Pentagon budget, stop funding war, start funding education. That's where we get the money. Thank you."

"When you think about the statistics that have been cited here, you realize that it's time to get real about health care and education in America. We need to understand that the ability of our public schools to be able to communicate sex education as a priority at the early age helps children understand the consequences of their actions. But there's another dimension here too. That is we have a nation of such wealth, yet we have forty-six million Americans without any health insurance. Another fifty million under-insured.

It's time for us to make every American know that they should have access. It is a basic right in a Democratic society. We should be able to fund all those diseases where people are suffering and they need care, but we have to end that for-profit medicine. It is time to take the for-profit insurance companies out of the business. Michael Moore is right about this, by the way, and have a not-for-profit health care where everyone is covered."

"There's three questions involved here. What are we taxed, who is paying and how are our tax dollars spent? Right now, we know that those who are in the highest brackets are not paying a fair share. We understand that. And we also understand that a lot of these corporations are taking their business offshore so they can offshore their profits and escape paying tens of billions of dollars in taxation.

We also know that our tax dollars right now are being spent overwhelmingly on war and military buildups. I want to see a new direction. I want to see the wealthy pay their fair share. I want to make sure that these corporations, if they have an American name, they have to pay taxes here and I want to see the end of war as an instrument of policy."

"As president, I'll have an attorney general who's going to be sensitive to the very issues that you raise. First of all, we need to seek to end mandatory minimums. We know who's serving those mandatory minimums. Second, we need to have the emphasis with respect to drug offenses on rehabilitation, not incarceration. And third, as president I'll do everything I can to end the federal death penalty which I've already introduced legislation for in the past because we need to have an approach that recognizes the discrimination which exists in our justice system."

"Absolutely. What happened in New Orleans in the aftermath and how it was dealt with underscores everything that's wrong in this country about race. First of all, New Orleans wouldn't have happened if the government had been more sensitive to make sure that those levies had been repaired when they were told they were supposed to be repaired.

Secondly, New Orleans represents hope also because we have to make sure people have a chance to return and they should be guaranteed that. They should also be guaranteed jobs. I held a hearing yesterday in my Domestic Policy Subcommittee which shows that people in New Orleans aren't getting jobs. They're hiring people from outside and, sometimes when they get jobs, they aren't being paid. We've got to change that. We must change it."

"I've stood behind plant gates that were locked where grass was growing in the parking lots where they used to make steel, they used to make bicycles, washing machines and now there's grass growing in the parking lots. I know what the solution is and you do too. I want to challenge my fellow candidates. One of my first acts in office will be to cancel NAFTA and the WTO and go back to trade conditioned on workers' rights, human rights and environmental quality principles. That's what we must do. A Democratic administration started NAFTA. A Democratic administration will end it."

"It's time for the United States to stop looking at Africa as a place where our corporations can exploit the people. I mean, let's face it. If Darfur had a large supply of oil, this administration would be occupying it right now. We need to stop giving Sudan a pass on --"