I agree that it is frustrating that politicians exaggerate. I’d love it if there were a system that encouraged honesty. Unfortunately, especially in presidential politics, an honest candidate is a losing candidate. Imagine, to take one example, if Obama said “I’m planning on rolling back my tax plan so that it increases taxes for those making more than $140K, keeping them flat down to $90K and providing a tax break for those under $90K. And my health care proposal is going to be rolled in very slowly, providing more protection for poor children, to begin with. I’m going to stop paying contractors in Iraq, and flatten some major military projects. And I’m going to do some deep deficit spending over the next three years, as just about every economist recommends. And as for education–we might help out Head First a little, and make some incremental improvements to NCLB, but no sweeping reforms.” If he said that, he’d lose the election. Likewise, if McCain was forced to lay out his budget, he’d be screwed.

On the policy side (not how he’ll pay for it), I think Obama has provided more detail than McCain on his site. There are some areas (e.g., securing the borders) where McCain has more interest, and therefor more detail.

But the fact that politicians lie doesn’t explain the difficulty in choosing, IMHO. To go back to Sedaris’s metaphor, either way it’s going to be airline food. I got served chicken on my last flight, and took one bite and left it behind. Nonetheless, I would have had little difficulty choosing rubbery chicken over life-threatening crap.