Pipe dreams

Via the NYT - 2 Candidates to Roll Out Domestic Proposals

Two presidential candidates plan to unveil significant domestic policy proposals today, with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton calling for a $5 billion plan for universal prekindergarten classes and Senator John McCain urging more efficiency and ethics in government.

[. . .]

“Every child — not just children whose parents can afford it — should have the same chance to succeed and to fulfill his or her God-given potential,” Mrs. Clinton said yesterday in a statement. A 2004 study in New York, by Clive R. Belfield of Queens College, found that offering universal prekindergarten to all children in the state would save up to $828 million over the course of their educations from kindergarten through 12th grade. The savings would come as a result of the reduced need for remedial services and reduced repetition of grades.

[. . .]

Mr. McCain, meanwhile, plans to veer away from the government-is-the-problem school of conservatism as he outlines his vision of government in a speech today to the Oklahoma State Legislature. The senator, an Arizona Republican, plans to speak of the need for more ethics and efficiency in government.

“In my administration, public disclosure will be constant, timely and widely available,” Mr. McCain said, in excerpts of the speech obtained from his campaign. “Ethical standards will be subject to frequent review. Every inspector general in every department of government will have direct access to the heads of their departments and cabinet secretaries. And I’ll hold those senior officeholders directly responsible for taking the necessary corrective measures to ensure the integrity of the departments they lead.”

It is hard for me to believe that either plan would produce the results intended. But I guess it only has to sound good, it doesn't really have to work. . .