John McCain’s 2013 fantasyland

John McCain gave a rather remarkable speech in Columbus, Ohio yesterday.  Let’s break it down, shall we?

The hectic but repetitive routine of presidential campaigns often seems to consist entirely of back and forth charges between candidates, punctuated by photo ops, debates and the occasional policy speech, followed by another barrage of accusations and counter accusations, formulated into the soundbites preferred by cable news producers. It is a little hypocritical for candidates or reporters to criticize these deficiencies. They are our creation.

So far, so good.  Although, if McCain really feels this way, one has to wonder why McCain persists in promoting the nonsense his campaign does — from his absurd twisting of Mitt Romney’s Iraq comments into a call for withdrawal to his current obsession in trying to link Barack Obama to Hamas.

So, what I want to do today is take a little time to describe what I would hope to have achieved at the end of my first term as President. I cannot guarantee I will have achieved these things. I am presumptuous enough to think I would be a good President, but not so much that I believe I can govern by command.

OK, tell me more.

By January 2013, America has welcomed home most of the servicemen and women who have sacrificed terribly so that America might be secure in her freedom. The Iraq War has been won. Iraq is a functioning democracy, although still suffering from the lingering effects of decades of tyranny and centuries of sectarian tension. Violence still occurs, but it is spasmodic and much reduced. Civil war has been prevented; militias disbanded; the Iraqi Security Force is professional and competent; al Qaeda in Iraq has been defeated; and the Government of Iraq is capable of imposing its authority in every province of Iraq and defending the integrity of its borders. The United States maintains a military presence there, but a much smaller one, and it does not play a direct combat role.

Really?  Does anybody think this is possible?  And isn’t this rather amazing, given McCain’s previous disdain and mockery of anybody willing to throw out a date related to Iraq.    Now, McCain has set the marker — if elected, most of the troops should be home from Iraq and Iraq should be stable.  Anything less than that is a failure, and should be held against him should it not occur.

The threat from a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan has been greatly reduced but not eliminated. U.S. and NATO forces remain there to help finish the job, and continue operations against the remnants of al Qaeda. The Government of Pakistan has cooperated with the U.S. in successfully adapting the counterinsurgency tactics that worked so well in Iraq and Afghanistan to its lawless tribal areas where al Qaeda fighters are based.

It’s telling that McCain expects and demands more progress In Iraq than he does in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the true threat to our security lies.  Al-Qaeda in Iraq is busy attacking Shias and our troops, not plotting attacks on U.S. soil.  That threat still is — and always has been — from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The United States has experienced several years of robust economic growth, and Americans again have confidence in their economic future. A reduction in the corporate tax rate from the second highest in the world to one on par with our trading partners; the low rate on capital gains; allowing business to deduct in a single year investments in equipment and technology, while eliminating tax loopholes and ending corporate welfare, have spurred innovation and productivity, and encouraged companies to keep their operations and jobs in the United States. The Alternate Minimum Tax is being phased out, with relief provided first to middle income families. Doubling the size of the child exemption has put more disposable income in the hands of taxpayers, further stimulating growth.

This is pure fantasy.  McCain’s economic plans would make Bush’s additions to the deficit look like child play.  McCain would slash hundreds of billions in revenue, but thus far has proposed a tiny fraction of that in spending cuts to offset.  McCain would double-down on the Bush economic disaster.

and instigating far reaching reforms of procurement and operating policies that have for too long extravagantly wasted money for no better purpose than to increase federal payrolls.

The problem under the Bush Administration isn’t having too many bureaucrats mucking up federal contracts — rather, it’s the lack of people to review and scrutinize these deals.  Over half of all federal contracts are now no-bid affairs.  If we’re going to outsource vital functions of government, shouldn’t we at least be ensuring we get the best deal?

Americans, who through no fault of their own, lost jobs in the global economy they once believed were theirs for life, are assisted by reformed unemployment insurance and worker retraining programs. Older workers who accept lower paying jobs while they acquire new skills are provided assistance to make up a good part of the income they have lost. Community colleges and technical schools all over the country have developed worker retraining programs suited to the specific economic opportunities available in their communities and are helping millions of workers who have lost a job that won’t come back find a new one that won’t go away.

The notion of wage insurance is a positive one — and one that you wouldn’t expect from a Republican.  McCain’s history, though, is one of proposing ideas that seem to break from Republican orthodoxy — such as his comprehensive immigration reform plan — and then breaking away from his own position to fall back in line.  The other problem McCain fails to address is that the jobs created “that won’t go away” are typically lower paying, less secure jobs in service fields — not the sort of skilled jobs we really need to create.

Public education in the United States is much improved thanks to the competition provided by charter and private schools;

There’s precious little evidence that public school competition is revolutionizing performance of children in public schools.  In fact, many of them have been dismal failures.  We would be far better off trying to lift the existing public school system (using some of the best practices that good charter and private schools use) and minmizing the wide variation in the quality of education students receive.

Health care has become more accessible to more Americans than at any other time in history.

Schools have greatly improved their emphasis on physical education and nutritional content of meals offered in school cafeterias. Obesity rates among the young and the disease they engender are stabilized and beginning to decline.

The reduction in the growth of health care costs has begun to relieve some of the pressure on Medicare; encouraging Congress to act in a bipartisan way to extend its solvency for twenty-five years without increasing taxes and raising premiums only for upper income seniors. Their success encouraged a group of congressional leaders from both parties to work with my administration to fix Social Security as well, without reducing benefits to those near retirement.

The United States is well on the way to independence from foreign sources of oil; progress that has not only begun to alleviate the environmental threat posed from climate change, but has greatly improved our security as well.

our southern border is now secure

Voluntary national service has grown in popularity

Scores of accomplished private sector leaders have joined the ranks of my administration for a dollar a year and have instituted some of the most innovative reforms of government programs ever known

Let’s see, what did he leave out?  Every day will be sunny?  We can eat candy all day and not gain weight? Drinking all night without a hangover?  Single-deck blackjack at all casinos? 

One has to wonder how anybody can take a laundry list of nonsense like this seriously.  It’s one thing to peddle hope and change, it’s another to sell a load of B.S.