Ow! No Fair! Time Out!

For some reason, today's news reminded me of my youth. Specifically, I recall incidents wherein my older brother and I would be wrestling on the floor of our living room and him pinning me. Since he was larger than I, and stronger (at the time...now I could totally take him), my strategy was to call a "Time Out!"

"Come on, time out! Time out! I need to catch my breath. No, seriously, time out!"

My brother didn't fall for that and neither should Barack Obama.

On a day when poll after poll after poll after poll has shown Obama moving into the lead, and when news reports reveal that McCain campaign manager Rick Davis was on the payroll Freddie Mac payroll (to the tune of $15,000 a month) up until just a few weeks ago, McCain tries to call a time out.

I understand his strategy. It was the same strategy I used back when I was 7. He needs to try to change the narrative here. The race was already shifting back to equilibrium before last Monday and since then, things have gotten worse for McCain. He's looking at the next six weeks and wondering how he can possibly get the upper hand if the whole election is about the economy. He's pinned. So what he wants to do is get the referees to let him reset.

And that's the big question. What will the refs do? The refs, back on the living room floor, were my parents. In this case, the refs are the press. So, will the press treat this as what it obviously is, a naked ploy to alter the trajectory of the campaign, or will they pretend that a politician running for president is actually being apolitical?

Let's hope the press follows the lead of the American public: only 14% of Americans think the refs should grant a time out.