Have you heard people whine that candidates for the White House are not much different from each other? You should not hear anyone complain this year.

At the moment the differences are enormous.

In the matter of energy, for instance, McCain wants us to drill more. Finally, he does. He wants us to drill offshore. And perhaps in other areas where drilling is prohibited. He now sees our energy situation as a danger to national security. McCain also wants us to build a lot more nuclear power plants, starting now. Many more.

Obama opposes drilling. He opposes allowing big oil companies to make more money. He wants to slap “windfall profit” taxes on them. He says more drilling would not affect oil and gasoline prices for many years to come.

“Nuclear energy is not optimal,” Obama says. “I am not a nuclear energy proponent.”

These are surely huge differences in attitudes by our candidates.

They, of course, have dramatically different opinions about what to do in Iraq. Forget about what they believed - and voted for - at the start of the war. Forget whether or not they supported President Bush’s surge. We have troops there now. What will be the plan for them from our next commander-in-chief?