Candidates' arts policies

Here are the arts policy statements for the two presidential candidates.

McCain sez:

"John McCain believes that arts education can play a vital role fostering creativity and expression. He is a strong believer in empowering local school districts to establish priorities based on the needs of local schools and school districts. Schools receiving federal funds for education must be held accountable for providing a quality education in basic subjects critical to ensuring students are prepared to compete and succeed in the global economy. Where these local priorities allow, he believes investing in arts education can play a role in nurturing the creativity of expression so vital to the health of our cultural life and providing a means of creative expression for young people."

That's the whole thing. All of it. In a nutshell it's "You get your art when you finish your math, kid."

Compare to this from Obama:

"To remain competitive in the global economy, America needs to reinvigorate the kind of creativity and innovation that has made this country great. To do so, we must nourish our children's creative skills. In addition to giving our children the science and math skills they need to compete in the new global context, we should also encourage the ability to think creatively that comes from a meaningful arts education. Unfortunately, many school districts are cutting instructional time for art and music education. Barack Obama believes that the arts should be a central part of effective teaching and learning."

The Obama policy statement goes on to cite a number of specific proposals for nurturing the arts in our country including creating an "Artist Corps," increasing funding for the NEA, and providing health insurance for artists.

Somebody did his homework. A pit bull ate the other guy's paper, teacher. Honest she did.