The More They Speak of Change

The more the presidential candidates promise change, the more it seems things are likely to stay just the way they are.

And I’m not the only one to notice. Washington Post columnist David Broder recently called it “the strangest of all presidential contests.” He argued, “The longer it goes on, the less we know about what either of these men would do if he were in the Oval Office next year.”

Both candidates are slinging promises of billions for this and billions for that, claiming to be everyone’s Mr. Everything. In the second presidential debate, Senator John McCain declared that if he were president, he “would order the Secretary of the Treasury to immediately buy up the bad home loan mortgages in America and … let people be able to make those payments and stay in their homes.”

No matter how much more house I buy than I can afford, the government will pay my mortgage?

Obama promises even more: “But most importantly, we’re going to have to help ordinary families be able to stay in their homes, make sure that they can pay their bills, deal with critical issues like health care and energy.…”

Obama’s administration is covering all my bills. Wow.

Both men seem oblivious to the reality that the next president will be handed a country badly in debt and unable to pay for the massive commitments it has already taken on. He won’t be handed a magic wand.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.