Senator Obama has criticised Senator McCain for not multi-tasking. He says that a potential president should be able to do several things at once. I disagree with Obama because, in my view, it is important to know how to prioritise. If there is a fire, first you put out the fire. Not much point in debating about what international fire brigades might be doing. What you need is a president who gets down to “tachles” (Yiddish for “straight talk” or “basics”) and stops mucking around with theatrical debates when there’s a genuine crisis.

I believe that Obama was caught with his pants down. When McCain says we have to do something, and he means right now before it’s too late, Obama says that a debate is doing something. He reminds me of our prime minister who would rather have a discussion than get down to actually doing something concrete. By the way, where is our elected frequent flyer today? Oh yes, he’s overseas again laying the foundations for his post PM career with the United Nations.

It is good that both candidates in the U.S election espouse the bipartisan approach to problem solving, but I did detect a hint of resentment in Obama this morning whereas there was none in McCain.

There is no point in discussing any other topic while the economy is in trouble. Without money, there is no funding for education, health, pensions, social security, defence, the environment or anything else. This trouble in the economy will affect everybody, even the democrats, if it is not seen to.

So debates and elections should be out the window until this problem is solved.