McCain, Obama contest will highlight differences

Americans have consistently said that their top three concerns in this year’s presidential election are Iraq, the economy and health care. And on all three, the presumptive Republican and Democratic nominees are miles apart in their approaches.

That’s good for the electorate because it means there could be substantive debates leading up to the November general election. Indeed, Republican John McCain, who sewed up the GOP nomination several months ago, has called on his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, who hit the magic delegate number last week, to meet him in as many debates as possible around the country.

We have long supported such verbal jousting at all levels of elections because they give voters a chance to not only judge for themselves each candidate’s knowledge, but to evaluate his or her ability to speak clearly and persuasively.

While Obama’s immediate reaction might be to limit the number of debates because he has a huge advantage in campaign contributions and, therefore, would prefer to conduct a solo campaign, we would suggest that he could benefit greatly by sharing the stage with McCain.

After all, not only is the difference in their ages already an issue, but over the past 16 months in which he campaigned for the Democratic nomination, Obama emerged as one of the most eloquent politicians in recent memory.

The first term senator from Illinois could certainly be expected to hold his own against the veteran senator from Arizona as far as debating ability goes. It will be their positions on the war in Iraq, the economy and health care on which they will be judged.

Foreign policy credentials

On Iraq, McCain, who has established his foreign policy credentials during 25 years in the House and Senate, not only supported President Bush on the invasion, but believes that American troops should remain there until victory has been achieved.

Obama, who was not in Congress during the 2003 invasion, said at the time that it was unjustified. He now says he would withdraw American soldiers within 16 months.

There is no more important an issue than the war because it not only affects America’s standing in the world, especially in the Middle East, but it is a major drain on the treasury.

The nation’s current record budget deficits can be traced, in large part, to the expense of the war, along with President Bush’s tax cuts. Indeed, McCain supports the cuts and would extend them after their expiration date, while Obama would let the tax cuts for individuals earning more than $250,000 a year expire.

The economy is also affected by the rising cost of health care, which Obama believes can only be solved with federal government intervention. McCain believes in giving individuals who receive health care benefits from their employers the ability to choose their providers.

There are several other major issues on which the Republican and Democratic nominees disagree, but there also are some, such as immigration and global warming, on which they share similar views.

For 16 months, Obama and ultimately his chief opponent for the Democratic nomination, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, sought to focus on personality differences because they agreed on most of the major issues.

The American electorate will now be treated a campaign that highlights differences on the important concerns of the day. That’s good for a country that will be electing the world’s most powerful leader.