[CookyPuss]

Originally Posted by LitlBuck

Obama's message of "change" is quite a message. I guess I would like to know what it stands for. Anybody can talk about "change" but what is a great to look like after it has been changed. Every time a Democrat runs against the Republican or a Republican runs against a Democrat and the person in power as low approval ratings the candidate whose party is not in power always uses that message. Those are really two powerful messages that Obama used and is using. Maybe someday he can talk about global economy, taxes, illegal immigration, and everything else that is going wrong with this Country. At least McCain says something that is specific and does not talk about "change" without giving specific details about it.

I don't know where you get your information, but Obama has made far more specific policy proposals than McCain. Spend a little time on their websites and explore the issues, you will find far more issues covered and far more detail on Obama's site. Obama has given a specific objective of removing combat troops from Iraq in 16 months, McCain clings to a vague notion of "victory" which he refuses to define. Obama has given a specific plan for applying the payroll tax to income over $250K to fix Social Security, McCain says he'll get a panel to work on it and wants Bush's failed proposal of privatization of accounts for younger workers (he calls the way it has been funded since the beginning a "disgrace"). Obama has a comprehensive plan for securing the borders and dealing with illegals who are already here. McCain says he wouldn't even vote for his legislation that he co-sponsored and now only talks about securing the border, no longer giving a clear plan to deal with the illegals that are already here other than to say we will deal with it "humanely." The only thing McCain is specific about is making the Bush tax cuts permanent (which he originally opposed), staying in Iraq (whether they want us there or not), and he'll veto "earmarks" and "pork" except for the military.

Here's an article noting the differences between the two:

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.co...gn-websit.html

For some reason, while I was researching various blog posts I got interested the differences between McCain's and Obama's websites, and in particular the policy information they make available. I think it started when I decided to check out reports that McCain had no energy policy. It turned out that you could find bits of one, if you were prepared to slog through his various speeches, but at the time, his Issues page did not have an entry for energy. (Now it does.) I then noticed that, as I said earlier, it doesn't have an entry for foreign policy either. (It still doesn't, though there is a page on Iraq.) I started poking around, and the contrast between McCain's and Obama's Issues pages is really striking.

Here's a list of issues that Obama has a page on and McCain doesn't: Civil Rights, Disabilities, Faith, Family, Foreign Policy, Homeland Security, Poverty, Service, Seniors and Social Security, Technology, Urban Policy, Women. That's a pretty striking list. Moreover, he has a page called 'Additional Issues' with links to plans on Arts, Child Advocacy, Katrina, Science, Sportsmen, and Transportation. Of these, only Sportsmen has a counterpart on McCain's site. Finally, under 'People', you can find separate policy pages on issues relevant to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (one-pagers in six languages, a longer version in English), First Americans, Labor, Latinos, and LGBT.

That's twenty five issues that Obama gives a page to and McCain does not. And some of them are pretty striking: Foreign Policy, Homeland Security, and Poverty are surprising absences in one way; Faith, Family, and Service in another.

Here's a list of issues McCain covers that have no counterpart on Obama's Issues page: The Sanctity of Life (question: why is "Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers" part of McCain's Sanctity of Life policy?), Judicial Philosophy, Space Program. If you hunt around, you can find a link to a little page with two paragraphs on autism which has, to my knowledge, no counterpart on Obama's site. [UPDATE: in comments at ObWi, ulpian246 points out that Obama does have a page on autism.]

That's three issues that McCain gives a page to and Obama does not.

Moreover, Obama's pages are a lot more detailed than McCain's, and they usually contain links to both to pdfs that are even more detailed and to speeches Obama has given on the topic in question. Almost none of McCain's do. This is a pity: McCain's speeches often contain more detailed expositions of his policy than you can find on his Issues page, and on issues like foreign policy, they are the only source of information about what he thinks. But there is no systematic way to find them.