Specifics of promises deserve debate discussion

There are 21 days left until Election Day.

Do you feel like you know about the candidates, their policies, their priorities and their storied histories in the Senate?

Tonight, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate John McCain will take the stage for the last time before the election to discuss domestic issues.

At least, that’s what we hope.

So far, the debates have left some people feeling as though the candidates and their vice presidential counterparts have failed to delve into the heart of the issues most concerning to voters and instead have stuck stringently to their talking points.

We’ve heard cries to cut pork-barrel spending and revamp health care, but we’ve heard little about the actual plans that will bring about such results.

In fact, the candidates’ creative spirits have shone through more in their attacks on each other and less in their remedies to the multitude of problems facing the country.

With any luck, tonight’s moderator, CBS’s Bob Schieffer, will approach the debate in a more relaxed fashion — a little less Tom Brokaw and a little more Jim Lehrer — and allow the candidates to elaborate on their respective plans when necessary.

How, specifically, are these plans going to be carried out? Why will one work better than the other? Who will benefit the most? At what cost? These are all questions that have yet to be answered at length, free of personal attacks and references to “Main Street.”

In the scope of domestic issues, there is probably no topic hotter than the state of the economy.

All other issues — health care, higher education, renewable energy resources — fall by the wayside if the economy isn’t healthy enough to support their progress.

For Michigan residents, rumors of the demise of General Motors Corp. only help to paint a bleaker picture of our economic future. If GM falls, so does one-third of the American auto industry.

Thousands of Michiganians would be jobless, only further advancing our one-state recession. Is the company worth saving with a bailout similar to those recently used to save banks and mortgage companies? It would be nice to know how each candidate envisions the boundaries of the bailouts and if they plan to implement similar measures in the future.

As students, we’ll all soon be venturing out into the “real world,” looking for jobs and craving the security that comes from knowing our chosen industries won’t soon crumble. The candidates have both mentioned expanding renewable energy industries, but how they plan to do it is still a bit mysterious.

Health care is another issue weighing heavily on the minds of Americans, partly because of the poor shape of the economy. Both candidates have plans to reform health care and they’ve both spoken about them before, but the logistics of the candidates’ respective plans for health care remain somewhat foggy.

It’s time to get down to business.

As the final debate draws to a close and we get one step closer to Election Day, we need to know more than what the candidates want to do, and should they be elected — we need to know how they’re going to do it.