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[quote=jsteele][quote=Anonymous]Sorry if my post is ignorant. Not originally from this country but have lived her many years. I try to follow the debates etc but end up feeling so confused and blanking out. In a nutshell... can you explain the major points of the Romney/ Santorum/ Obama debate? And can you explain/ expand on the following?:
- budgets... fiscally conservative vs ...?
- which media is generally conservative and which are going to be liberal? 
- what is the status of the health care reform? what works and what does not?
- what is obama have to do with gas prices?
- what is the GOP exactly? What do they do and how to the effect money?
anything else basic I should know? 
Thanks.[/quote]

Don't worry, most of this stuff is confusing for Americans as well. There are two issue that really make things confusing:

1) Obama is routinely called a socialist although he is governing in the manner of a moderate Republican. 
2) You have to differentiate between campaign rhetoric and the likely policies a candidate would actually implement.

Because the Republican base fully believes that Obama is a socialist, the Republican candidates have had to assume that position. This has been very bad for Mitt Romney, because in the past his positions have been very similar to Obama's. So, he has to criticize Obama while simultaneously defend his own past policies. The most obvious of these is health care. Romney implemented plan almost exactly like Obama's when he was the governor of Massachusetts. Now, Romney calls Obama's plan socialist.

Originally, the Republican plan was to attack Obama on the state of the economy and blame it on his socialist policies. Now that the economy seems to be improving, that plan is collapsing. This created an opening for Santorum who is basing his campaign on social issues such as opposing abortion. So, basically, you have Obama who is a Democrat governing like a Republican, Romney who has been a moderate Republican who is now campaigning as a conservative Republican, and Santorum who has generally been a conservative Republican is not emphasizing the conservative social values.

Regarding the media, I'll stick to television. Fox is conservative, Current TV is liberal. MSNBC has some liberal programming and some conservative programming. The so-called "mainstream media" such as CBS, NBC, and ABC are considered to be conservative by liberals and liberal by conservatives. This might make you think that they are in the middle, but its more complicated than that. They are very pro-establishment in the larger sense of that word (meaning financial, business, and political establishments). On foreign policy issues, the mainstream media will normally be fully aligned with the government, whether a Democrat or Republican is in power. Of course, there are always specific exceptions, but I'm generalizing.

The healthcare reform law -- so-called Obamacare, is being implemented over a period of years (I believe 7 years). So far, very few parts of it are in force. One aspect that has been implemented is the ability for children to stay on their parent's insurance longer. It would take pages to explain all that is covered by the reforms. But a few basic facts are that it is similar to Romney's plan and it is also similar to a plan proposed by Bob Dole (former Republican leader of the Senate and Republican Presidential candidate). It is clearly a Republican plan and the left of the Democratic part opposed it. The most controversial part is the "individual mandate" that requires individuals to buy health insurance or else be assessed a fine. The reason for this mandate is to prevent people from avoiding insurance, but then signing up once they become sick. That would not be a sustainable business model for the insurance companies. As always seems to be the case, critics call this socialism although it actually forces us to become customers of private companies. So, it is really the opposite of socialism.

Obama has little to do with short and medium term gas prices. However, whoever is president when gas prices rise always gets the blame. Republicans will say prices are going up because Obama has not allowed more drilling, but drilling it actually at a longtime high. Obama can release fuel from the strategic reserve which should lower prices a bit.  Also, Obama's foreign policy decisions can affect gas prices. For instance, the embargo against Iran has reduced the world petroleum supply which impacts the price we pay even though the US doesn't important Iranian oil. A war with Iran would cause gas prices to hit record levels.

The GOP is the Grand Old Party which is a nickname for the Republicans. Republicans traditionally came in several sizes and shapes including libertarians who believe in very limited government, conservatives who are nearly isolationist in their foreign policies, neo-conservatives who are very aggressive in foreign policy, social conservatives who are generally very religious and emphasize social issues, and moderates which generally don't exist anymore. Just about the only thing Republicans can agree on is that if Obama likes it, they oppose it. They support limited government when it comes to business or their own wallets, but support big government when it comes to your bedroom. They oppose government involvement in healthcare, except women's reproductive healthcare in which case they support more government involvement.

The only thing you really have to know is that regardless of party, corporate interests generally dominate. So, no matter who wins, it will be good for Wall Street.
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