The book is better than the movie and has a different ending

Charles Bruner served as an Iowa state representative from 1978 to 1990 and was the founding director of the Child and Family Policy Center from 1989 to 2016. For the past six years, he has directed a health equity and young children initiative for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, focusing on primary health care for children.

First came the movie (the live debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump), but I would also strongly recommend that people read the book – that is, the full transcript of the CNN debate.

While this will do little to change the immediate impact of the presidential debate on opinion polls and public opinion about the suitability of the two candidates, it does tell a different picture of what they have said and what they would do in office.

There was even a question about child care and one about inflation, which addressed the financial needs of American households struggling to juggle their roles as breadwinners and caregivers for themselves and their family members.

In this context, Biden spoke about his “Agenda for Families, Children and Care,” which includes expanding the child tax credit, extending paid family and medical leave, improving child care, providing home services for seniors and the disabled, and addressing the 95 percent of American households with annual incomes of less than $400,000.

Biden also stressed that these investments must be financed by ensuring that billionaires pay their fair share and by rolling back some of the tax cuts for the wealthy that were passed as part of Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Most of Trump’s comments were simply boasts about how great things were under his administration and how terrible things are under Biden’s administration – often using wild and false claims. And Biden began almost every response by saying that Trump’s statements were untrue and debunked.

We will see whether the debate and its aftermath have irreparably damaged Biden’s candidacy. At the same time, however, we must spread a message that addresses the real and profound differences between the Republican Trump and Democratic Biden agendas for our country.

In particular, they have very different ideas about what kind of American families the government should recognize and support. For this reason, I would like to see a debate between speakers from MomsRising and Moms for Liberty, as well as debates with Iowa candidates for Congress and the state legislature.

Ultimately, voters’ choice of candidates will determine how our state governments and the federal government address these fundamental societal problems.

The image above was created by Charles Bruner using Open AI.