Obama Lays Out Plans to Increase National Service, Enlarge Military
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. _ Barack Obama spent the past week sparring over religion with Focus on the Family President James Dobson and touting his vision for a partnership with faith-based charities.
On a visit Wednesday to Colorado Springs, the home of Dobson’s and numerous other Christian ministries, Obama turned his focus from faith to national service.
Speaking to an invitation-only crowd of 400 supporters at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee announced plans to dramatically expand government-run volunteer programs, such as AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps, creating an Energy Corps to work on renewable-energy projects and enlisting military veterans to find jobs for soldiers returning from overseas.
The Illinois senator also called for enlarging the Army by 65,000 soldiers and the Marine Corps by 27,000 troops.
Heading into the Independence Day weekend, Obama said that he believes people are clamoring to serve their country more. He characterized his ideas as ones that will allow Americans to change the course of the country’s history.
“In America, each of us is free to seek our own dreams. But we also must choose to serve a higher purpose,” he said. “That’s why it’s called the American dream. It’s not Bobby’s dream or Jane’s dream. It’s the American dream.”
The theme of increasing volunteerism is familiar ground for Obama, whose first job was with a nonprofit aiding residents in impoverished south Chicago.
His plans, if he is elected, include expanding the urban-service AmeriCorps program from 75,000 volunteers to 250,000 and doubling the size of the Third World-focused Peace Corps. He also would increase the number of Americans in Foreign Service, create an online location where people could search for volunteer opportunities, and launch a social network to get nonprofits, businesses and the government working together on projects.
Obama also said there should be a $4,000 annual tax credit for college students who volunteer at least 100 hours per year.
“Loving your country shouldn’t just mean watching fireworks on the Fourth of July,” he said. “Loving your country must mean accepting the responsibility to do your part to change it.”
Though Obama echoed the words of both President John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., several in the audience said there was a freshness to the ideas.
Lance Stewart, an Army veteran who traveled with his family from Frederick, Colo., for the speech, said a build-up of military forces after years of downsizing is “long overdue.”
Arthur Derbigny, a Korean war-era Marine veteran from La Junta, Colo., said not even Kennedy put out such a broad call for people to serve their country.
“I do not recall hearing a presidential candidate say: ‘I want to enlist the American people’s help and aid and advice,’ ” Derbigny said. “Most of all, they’ve told us: ‘Vote for me, then sit down and shut up.’ “
Obama staffers said they decided to make the trip into Republican territory because of the town’s military presence and the campaign’s acknowledgement of Colorado’s swing-state status in the upcoming election.
The senator was introduced to the crowd by Cori Gadzia of Colorado Springs, a recent Colorado State University graduate whose fiance is stationed at the Fort Carson Army post in Colorado Springs and is set to deploy to Iraq for a second time later this year. Gadzia choked up as she spoke about her fiance and was comforted by Obama.
After the speech, Obama visited the Air Force Academy and North American Aerospace Defense Command before holding a fundraiser at The Broadmoor hotel.
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(c) 2008, The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.).
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