Good grammar doesn't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy presidential campaign. But listening to Barack Obama give his stump speech in Indiana on Thursday, I was annoyed anew by his reference to the need for "good paying jobs." Obama's not the only one, of course. "Good paying jobs" is a mantra for politicians from both parties. I don't understand why.

OK, maybe someone -- though not Joe the Plumber, who's pretty articulate-- once said: "This job pays good." But is that any reason for otherwise grammatically scrupulous candidates to talk about "good paying jobs"? Whats next: A claim that George W. Bush presided over a "bad fought" war in Iraq? Or that Sarah Palin "rich deserves" the lampooning she has received from Tina Fey?

Maybe a retired English teacher should be given a well paying job correcting the candidates' grammar.

Photo: Mark Randall, South Florida Sun-Sentinel