John McCain didn’t soar with his rhetoric, didn’t bash his opponent and didn’t sugarcoat the Republican track record of recent years.

But for the first time in the storm-shortened Republican convention, McCain attempted Thursday night to sketch a blueprint of what he would do about taxes, government spending, education, energy, trade and foreign policy.

Few of the proposals were new, and most of the concepts were vague.

McCain gave short shrift to some areas where Republicans have led. On free trade, he said only that he would “open our markets to new goods and services.” On education, he tossed out the standard lines about school choice and holding teachers accountable, but he did not propose any new educational platforms or programs.

The Republican was more specific on other fronts. Here’s a look at the top policy ideas he laid out in his nominating speech, with analysis from leading experts in those fields.

Taxes/economy

“Cutting the second-highest business tax rate in the world will help American companies compete and keep jobs from moving overseas. Doubling the child tax exemption from $3,500 to $7,000 will improve the lives of millions of American families.”

For all the red-meat tax-cut rhetoric, this particular idea does not dramatically distinguish McCain from Barack Obama on tax policy. Obama has also discussed cutting corporate tax rates and increasing the child tax exemption. Call this one a draw.

Although McCain has said before that he would extend the 2001 Bush tax cuts — even though he opposed them at the time — he didn’t mention such an extension in his speech. It was a startling omission because Republicans routinely tout those cuts as the signature fiscal policy success of the Bush administration. Obama has promised to keep most of those cuts, save for those benefiting the top 5 percent of wage earners.

“Like Sen. Obama's speech before his, Sen. McCain's speech had rhetoric on taxes and new proposals without much substance about how to implement or pay for them,” said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense. “The devil is always in the details. Will you close loopholes and breaks when you cut the corporate tax rate, will the child tax credit apply across the board or phase out? How will you pay and implement trade adjustment?”

McCain didn’t say on Thursday night.

Health Care

“My health care plan will make it easier for more Americans to find and keep good health care insurance. [Obama’s] plan will force small businesses to cut jobs, reduce wages and force families into a government- run health care system where a bureaucrat stands between you and your doctor.”

Republicans have long warned of the dangers of what they call “socialized medicine,” and McCain didn’t disappoint the base with this line. Yet he didn’t offer one word of explanation about how his plan would make it easier for more Americans to obtain health insurance.

According to his campaign website, McCain’s health care plan is similar to what the Bush administration has been pushing for years — $5,000 tax credits for families to purchase private health insurance, and incentives for creating health savings accounts to cover out-of-pocket health care costs.

The $5,000 tax credit, even if it were refundable, would not cover the average yearly cost of a family health care premium, which the Kaiser Family Foundation said was $12,000 in 2007.

Energy

“We're going to embark on the most ambitious national project in decades. ... We will attack the problem on every front. We will produce more energy at home. We will drill new wells offshore, and we'll drill them now. We will build more nuclear power plants. We will develop clean coal technology. We will increase the use of wind, tide, solar and natural gas. We will encourage the development and use of flex fuel, hybrid and electric automobiles.”

The opening line about the most ambitious project in decades on energy was dramatic, but the laundry list of general ideas for energy policy did not move the ball beyond the Republican energy package unveiled this summer.

McCain seemed to embrace the popular GOP “all of the above” approach to energy policy, saying the United States should try everything without putting a price tag on the ideas. Obama did promise to spend a specific amount — $150 billion in renewable energy — in his speech last week.

McCain did distinguish himself from Obama with his desire to push for more nuclear plants. Obama, like many other congressional Democrats, has started to embrace more offshore drilling.

“A year ago, the pollsters would have told you the term 'drilling' was to be strictly avoided, but tonight it headlined Sen. McCain's discussion of energy policy,” said Brian Kennedy, a senior vice president for the Institute for Energy Research, a conservative energy policy think tank. “I think that's a telling reflection of the dire straights many families find themselves in today as a result of skyrocketing energy prices. ... I think that part of the speech was very effective.”

Foreign Policy/National Security

“As president, I will work to establish good relations with Russia so we need not fear a return of the Cold War. But we can't turn a blind eye to aggression and international lawlessness that threatens the peace and stability of the world and the security of the American people.”

It’s hard to believe that the word “Iraq” appeared only twice in McCain’s speech, and one of those references was to an individual voter serving there. Afghanistan and Pakistan did not make the speech, and a week before the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the word “terrorism” made it just once — and then in a reference to Iran.

Instead, the Republic of Georgia got more play in his foreign policy section — an emphasis some critics found baffling.

“Overall, the foreign policy section was extremely light, vague and consisted of recycled statements from previous speeches,” said Adam Blickstein, a spokesman for the liberal-leaning National Security Network. “During an hourlong address, he devoted only three small paragraphs to national security and foreign policy.”

McCain’s position on Iraq — as well as his son’s service — is already well-known to voters, so perhaps he didn’t need to much further in explaining his vision for the war.
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But McCain promised to be more aggressive than the Bush administration has been in dealing with Russia.

“He has a pretty visceral hostility to the Putin regime,” said Peter Beinart, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “But I can’t believe there are Americans voting based on his stance on Georgia.”