John McCain has six or seven houses he can call his own.

So what?

Barack Obama grew up living in areas outside of the continental United States.

What difference does that make?

I don’t care about such things. In fact, I regard making much of them as a waste of the public’s time. More than that, they distract us from real issues.

What I want to know is what each of these candidates proposes to do about America’s major problems. I wish they would ignore trying to score points on one another and instead concentrate on the nation’s needs.

Long-term care for our eldest citizens who need it ─ this is one of the many issues that I care about. Sooner or later most Americans feel great concern about their own health in old age or that of their older family members.

Publicly financed health care for everyone continues as one of this country’s greatest needs. Though the number of those without health insurance has gone down this past year, we should be ashamed that, even so, some 45 thousand still lack coverage.

The judgments presidents make about wars ─ this concerns me deeply. The decision to invade Iraq continues to be a disgraceful blunder, unjustifiable by moral standards. Candidates must make clear how they would approach decisions about conflict.

The current erosion of our civil liberties poses questions for leaders who ambition the White House. Must we continue to endure quasi police-state tactics as features of American life?

The shocking imprisonment of alleged terrorists for years on end, leaving them without recourse to legal defense or freedom from torture raises questions for our leaders. I want to know what action candidates propose to take about this.

I care also about who gets appointed to the Supreme Court. The choice of members who believe in the great tradition of a judiciary free of narrow political considerations holds great importance for me. I wince at the prospect of more right wing justices who will decide in favor of the executive branch as if they belonged to it.

This approach to presidential candidates sometimes makes me feel antiquated. Most level-headed Americans judge these seekers of our highest office by their personality traits. I don’t.

Whether the potential president is someone I would like to share a drink with makes no difference to me. For me, voting decisions should not be based on the candidate’s personality, his charm or lack of same, and his age.

My main criterion for choosing between the two major candidates for president is the party they belong to. This, I realize, sounds thoroughly antiquated. It goes against the enlightened practice of many Americans who pride themselves on being called independents.

They often put most emphasis on the kind of person they judge the candidate to be, not the policies of the party to which he belongs. Many will repeat the cliché “it doesn’t make any difference which party wins ─ they’re all the same.”

In the frenzied atmosphere created this week and last by the Democratic and Republican national conventions, it becomes easy to focus on the personality of the chosen candidates. Their political allies, and even their family members, speak out, in ringing tones, in praise of the candidate’s sterling personal qualities.

I do measure candidates for evidence of wisdom. I look for signs that they will make decisions based on sound reasoning rather than mere feelings or prejudice.

Of course, other things being equal, I prefer my elected officials to be people of high moral character. But other things are not equal. And morality, properly understood, involves much more than sexuality.

Morality rightly includes such issues as making war, selling of weapons worldwide, carrying out capital punishment, concentrating wealth on a small percentage on the top rung of society.

These activities should be counted as part of morality, in my book, not just sexual issues.

I, for one, do not need any further lessons about the hazards of putting into the White House a man regarded as a “nice guy.” Some 59 million Americans voted for this kind of person, the last time around, but they have had ample time and reason to repent of their electoral action.

I wish voters would ignore what the great American celebrity system most values. These features emphasize personal qualities that come across well on television. But they fail to tell us what kind of policies the president will pursue.

This column surely offers enough for you to see what kind of guy I am, politically speaking. But don’t blame old age; I have been this ornery for many decades.