McCain is no hard-line conservative, and Obama, though generally liberal, is not terribly enamored of the heavy hand of central government. Given the moderate nature of their views and the fact that both layer their proposals for health care reform on a base of market competition, one might expect some genuine dialogue to emerge from them about actual solutions to the country’s horrendous problems of access and cost. But don’t hold your breath. The hard questions these candidates should face are so disturbing for each of them that neither may rise to the challenge.