Barack Obama looks certain to beat John McCain and become the next US president. An Obama victory will symbolise the vanquishing of racism and the dismal Bush legacy.
Besides, McCain is a military hawk, especially on Iraq. Obama is not exactly a dove, but is far less a military adventurer than McCain.
Records show McCain has voted 88% of the time against bills creating trade barriers, and 90% of the time against export subsides for US producers. Obama has served a much shorter time in the Senate, and avoided voting on many key issues. He has voted against trade barriers only 36% of the time. He supported export subsides on the two occasions on which he voted, a 100% protectionist record in this regard. In 2007, he voted to reduce visas issued to foreign workers. He sometimes voted for free trade. More often he voted for protectionist measures including 100%scanning of imported containers and emergency farm spending.
In 2005 he voted to impose sanctions on China for currency manipulation, and against the Central American Free Trade Agreement(CAFTA). He voted for the Byrd amendment, a disgraceful bill. Obama says the North american Free Trade Agreement is bad one, and must be renegotiated. He has opposed the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement on the bogus ground that Colombia is not protecting its trade union leaders from the drug mafia.
By contrast, McCain has consistently voted for open trade. He has opposed federal curbs as well as private curbs on outsourcing to countries like India. He opposed the disgraceful Byrd amendment on antidumping duties. He voted against farm subsides and labour standards for imports.
Unlike Obama, McCain voted agains imposting trade sanctions on China for supposedly undervaluing its currency to keep exports booming and accumulate large forex reserves.