Race for the nomination

Lieberman, Dean address community

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency asked the major candidates of both parties to write an essay for Jewish voters, broadly addressing two issues: the prospects for peace in the Middle East, and separation of church and state at home, with an emphasis on school vouchers and faith-based initiatives. President George Bush declined to participate.

JOSEPH LIEBERMAN

I'm running for president because I love America and hate the direction George Bush is taking us.

We've lost nearly 3 million private sector jobs. Millions have lost their health insurance and millions more can't keep up with rising premiums. The middle class is getting squeezed. At least a million new people have fallen into poverty. The environment has been sold out to special interests.

And because of this administration's arrogant and unilateral foreign policy, America is more hated around the world right when it needs more friends than ever.

As president, I'm going to grow the economy and grow the middle class - starting with a tax cut for 98 percent of taxpayers and a national paid family-leave program. Protect the environment. Improve our schools. Extend access to good, affordable health care to every American. Defend a woman's right to choose. Wean our country from its dangerous dependence on foreign oil. Reduce the poverty rate to the lowest level in history. And keep America strong in the world - with a muscular foreign policy working with allies and friends.

What does that mean for the Middle East?

It means that we need to recognize we have a special relationship with Israel.

I also believe that peace and stability in the Middle East is vitally important to America's national security, and we need to work hard to realize the day when we have a secure, democratic Jewish Israel alongside a democratic and peaceful Palestine.

The essential first step to achieve that goal is for the Palestinian leadership to make a 100 percent effort to stop terrorism and dismantle terrorist organizations.

The United States cannot force the parties to settle their differences or dictate the terms of a final settlement. But there is hope and progress only when America is engaged.

The Bush administration has concentrated in fits and starts. That has not helped quell the violence or returned us to the path of peace.

I have never believed that Jewish Americans should support me because I'm Jewish. But neither should Jews oppose me because I'm Jewish or worry about supporting me out of some fear of what might happen if a Jewish American becomes president.

The truth is that America is more accepting of difference now than at any time in its history.

I am running for president as an American - to give America the strong, serious leadership we need in these changing and challenging times.

I have confidence in the American people, who are so magnificently fair and accepting and are ready to support whoever they think would be the best president to provide them with safer, better lives.

That's the America of which I have always been proud - and which my grand-parents believed in and dreamed of when coming to this great country. To quote the famous Jewish dic-tum, "If not now, when?''

Joseph Lieberman is a Democratic senator repre-senting Connecticut.

HOWARD DEAN

In 2002, as I began to travel the country the way one does when seeking the presidency, I had three priorities: ex-panding health-care coverage to all Americans, improving programs for early childhood development, and balancing the budget to bring financial stability and jobs back to America.

As the campaign has developed, the central message I carry is to energize the Democratic Party to stand up for its traditional principles and policies and to take our country back from special interests.

But in seeking change, we also re-main committed to historic American values, because the American flag be-longs to all of us, not only to John Ash-croft, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.

Similarly, freedom of religion is a bedrock Ameri-can value. This cherished freedom is in jeopardy. Like so much of what this president has done, his faith-based initiative has been used to drive wedges between well-intentioned people.

While religious charitable institutions have a critical role to play in meeting our nation's problems, recipients of federal money should never be allowed to proselytize or engage in employment dis-crimination.

America's challenges, of course, do not end at our borders. We must continue to wage a vigorous battle against terrorism - but without lying to the Ameri-can people and to our brave soldiers.

And in this global fight, the United States and Israel are partners. Let me be clear: Preserving Israel's security is a bedrock principle that will guide my administration's foreign policy.

On a tour of the Old City in Jerusalem during my 2002 trip to Israel, I experienced first-hand the miracle of the modern Jewish state.

That experience reinforced my commitment to the special relationship the United States has with Israel.

I also believe that peace in the Middle East is a key U.S. interest and that the United States is the only intermediary that can bring the Israelis and Palestinians to the peace table.

We're never going to get peace in the Middle East as long as we have terror. Israel has both the right and the responsibility to protect and defend its citizens against terrorists.

This president has implemented a foreign policy characterized by dominance, arrogance and intimidation. His brand of diplomacy has driven a deep wedge into the alliances and the security organizations we established to safeguard our freedoms and our safety.

This has put America and our allies in danger. There is perhaps no larger threat to the United States and Israel today than the pursuit of weapons of mass destruction by rogue states and terrorist groups.

I will lead a global alliance against terror, seeking to use improved relations with our friends to stop the flow of nuclear and missile technology to Iran.

I will also commit $30 billion to a global fund to seek and destroy weapons of mass destruction and their components.

I seek to lead our nation with hope, not fear. Our nation, once looked to as a beacon of hope from around the globe, now is looked at with suspicion and distrust.

We can do better. We should help unite the world for the common good.

Our path for the future is clear. It is the path that generations before us have taken. It is to change America the only way it can be changed - through the people. It is time to take our country back.

Howard Dean is a medical doctor and former Democratic governor of Vermont.

Home