* OPINION * NOVEMBER 3, 2008 * Wall Street Journal

The Change We Need
I'm proud to have the support of businessmen like Warren Buffett.
By BARACK OBAMA

This is a defining moment in our history. We face the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression -- 760,000 workers have lost their jobs this year. Businesses and families can't get credit. Home values are falling, and pensions are disappearing. Wages are lower than they've been in a decade, at a time when the costs of health care and college have never been higher.

At a moment like this, we can't afford four more years of spending increases, poorly designed tax cuts, or the complete lack of regulatory oversight that even former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan now believes was a mistake. America needs a new direction. That's why I'm running for president of the United States.

Tomorrow, you can give this country the change we need.

My opponent, Senator McCain, has served his country honorably. He can even point to a few moments in the past where he has broken from his party. But over the past eight years, he's voted with President Bush 90% of the time. And when it comes to the economy, he still can't tell the American people one major thing he'd do differently from George Bush.

* OPINION * NOVEMBER 3, 2008 * Wall Street Journal

What We're Fighting For
Protectionism and tax hikes are wrong for the economy.
By JOHN MCCAIN

The presidential election occurs at a pivotal moment. Our nation is fighting two wars abroad, suffers from the greatest global financial crisis since the Great Depression, and is facing a painful recession. I believe in the greatness of America. I believe in our capacity to prosper, and to be safer and remain a beacon of light on the global stage. But we cannot spend the next four years as we have spent much of the last eight: waiting for our luck to change. We have to act immediately. We have to fight for it.

The institutions that we counted on -- Wall Street banks, our elected leaders in Washington -- failed us. We must reverse the corruption and arrogance that have overtaken these institutions, and we must place our trust in the hands of those who have never let us down, especially the American family and small businesses.

We need to grow our small businesses, not tax them. I will fight the Democrats' plans to redistribute the fruit of America's labor and turn our economy into a full-fledged disaster. I will cut taxes on families, seniors, savers and businesses. We need to double the child deduction, cut the capital gains tax, and keep jobs in America with a lower business tax.

By JOHN MCCAIN

But we cannot spend the next four years as we have spent much of the last eight: waiting for our luck to change. We have to act immediately. We have to fight for it.

Gutenberg wrote:
And that McCain voted 'yea' on Bush programs 90 percent of the time.

I will fight the Democrats' plans to redistribute the fruit of America's labor and turn our economy into a full-fledged disaster.

$tevie wrote:
** Phrase used ironically. I am really sick of it and wish it would disappear.

Gutenberg wrote:
Sorry, graylocks, that was tongue-in-cheek and not intended to annoy.