NOW FOR THE ISSUES

After all the hubbub and cheering and booing of the Democratic and Republican conventions, what a relief to have all that meaningless hoopla behind us. Now it is time for getting down to the serious issues that figure in the choice of the next president and the country’s future course.

Above all lurks the question of the Iraq war, ordered by President Bush based on widely believed false intelligence and authorized by a congressional vote supported by John Kerry. Aside from the much-argued questions of whether it was a mistake to invade Iraq and whether Mr. Kerry would have used the war power quite differently, the question now is how and when to get out. Mr. Bush won’t set an exit deadline. Mr. Kerry says four years. In the meantime, major conflict continues, despite Mr. Bush’s mission-accomplished ceremony 15 months ago that it had ended. American war casualties continue to mount.

“Collateral damage” from U.S. air- strikes continues to cause uncounted deaths and injuries of Iraqi civilians. The war looks like a deepening quagmire, with the entire Arab and Muslim worlds increasingly viewing it as a permanent American occupation and military base. Neither nominee seems willing to face the urgency of questioning the original vision of a peaceful and democratic Iraq that would be a model of Middle East reform and bringing the venture to an early end.

Meanwhile, the fully justified war in Afghanistan remains unfinished, with a resurgent Taliban controlling much of the country and Osama bin Laden probably still at large there or across the border in Pakistan. The resources and manpower tied up in Iraq could far better have been applied to a true war on terror, wiping out Mr. bin Laden and his terrorist network.

On the domestic side, lines should be drawn on whether tax cuts mainly benefiting the rich should be extended now that a mammoth surplus has become a mammoth deficit. And we need serious analysis of how lagging job growth and how a stagnant economy can be stimulated.

The rising cost of health care plagues individuals as well as businesses. High among the stakes in this election is which nominee will best tackle these escalating burdens and the rising number of citizens who have no health insurance and resort to costly emergency-room care. The rivals have plans that address all these issues but not enough debate has taken place over them.

They should also be judged on whether and how they would amend the “USA Patriot Act,” to protect against terrorism while safeguarding our first amendment rights. Perhaps the most important question this time is which man will act most wisely in choosing new Supreme Court justices.

The coming election may not be the most important in the history of the country, as politicians keep telling us. Others have been just as vital. But this one involves decisions on a raft of pressing foreign and domestic matters. Deciding which man has the best answers goes far beyond such trivial distractions as whether Mr. Bush fulfilled his Air National Guard duty or whether Mr. Kerry deserved his medals in Vietnam.