McCain's Pipe Dream

I've read the text of John McCain's speech from May 15 (see text here) about what he hopes to achieve during his first term as president. It was one of the most idealistic, utopian pieces of fantasy that I've ever read, with no basis whatsoever in reality. The intended audience was apparently a class of grade school kids. In the first paragraph of the speech, McCain states, "We [candidates] spend too little time and offer too few specifics on that most important of questions". McCain then goes on to deliver a 3,000+ word speech with no specifics. Here are a few examples:

• "The Iraq War has been won. Iraq is a functioning democracy..."

And if it doesn't work out as planned, then McCain says 100 years in Iraq "would be fine with me".

• "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."

Pakistan has only marginal control over the tribal areas. Future Pakistani leaders are not likely to be as friendly as Musharraf, and he hasn't been particularly helpful. And I guess that the successful counterinsurgency tactics McCain refers to are another future event in fantasyland.

• "The size of the Army and Marine Corps has been significantly increased, and are now better equipped and trained to defend us."
  

The US already spends more on the military (defense is a misnomer) than the rest of the world combined. The US has troops stationed in 135 countries. Do we really need to "significantly increase" the size of our military?

• "Encouraged by the success (in Sudan), the League is now occupied with using the economic power and prestige of its member states to end other gross abuses of human rights such as the despicable crime of human trafficking."

McCain promises to expand our role as self-appointed policeman of the world.

• "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."

What are these new jobs that won't go away? I may want to steer my kids in that direction.

• "Public education in the United States is much improved thanks to the competition provided by charter and private schools...Test scores and graduation rates are rising everywhere in the country."

Charter and private schools. Don't we have those now?

• "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."

How does McCain intend to do this? Ethanol? Invading and annexing Iran?

• "Construction has begun on twenty new nuclear reactors thanks to improved incentives and a streamlined regulatory process."

Apparently nobody has told McCain that the nuclear power plant licensing process takes several years. Submit a completed license application into the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission tomorrow and you will not have started construction by the end of McCain's first term.

• "Voluntary national service has grown in popularity in part because of the educational benefits used as incentives, as well as frequent appeals from the bully pulpit of the White House, but mostly because the young Americans, no less than earlier generations, understand that true happiness is much greater than the pursuit of pleasure, and can only be found by serving causes greater than self-interest."

If you are providing incentives, then it's not really voluntary is it. And McCain's whole shtick about serving causes greater than self -interest reminds me too much of the Karl Marx slogan, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need."

And who can say no to:

• "The United States has experienced several years of robust economic growth, and Americans again have confidence in their economic future."

• "The world food crisis has ended, inflation is low, and the quality of life not only in our country, but in some of the most impoverished countries around the world is much improved."

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

It all sounds great to me (jn). The sad thing is that there are probably American sheeple out there thinking that this was an inspiring speech (aside from McCain and his speech writers).