This column is always about politics, but just this once, let's introduce a bit of reality into the discussion.

Unlike the television commercial, there is no “;magic button,”; and despite Washington running the printing presses 24/7, the money is not free.

Someday we are going to have to pay for all this.

Today the country is another $700 billion in the hole to bail out financial institutions. And there is much talk that even that staggering sum will not be enough.

It is unclear what either Sen. John McCain or Sen. Barack Obama would do about this, because they haven't said.

During the three national debates both candidates were repeatedly asked what they would drop to replace the missing $700 billion. How would their own national programs be changed because of the huge new expenditure?

Suddenly it became “;Dancing with the Stars”; time, as the Republican and Democrat pirouetted away from the issue and offered up dumbbell answers.

Obama said he is going to go through the budget line-by-line and find all the waste (translation: “;I haven't a clue”;) and McCain called for a national freeze on spending, except for all the stuff that wasn't frozen (translation: “;Ditto”;).

In a candid moment during last week's meeting at the Star-Bulletin, Gov. Linda Lingle said both McCain and Obama are just blowing smoke.

“;Neither of them are willing to say, 'Yeah, in the short term it is going to be worse before it gets better,'”; Lingle said.

“;I wish they had come out and been honest with the American people. More honesty with the public would be better,”; she advised.

Either presidential candidate could have stepped into the discussion to say that while our national priorities have not changed, our understanding of the problems facing the country has. Because of that, the country will have to adjust.

Some of the ways to make that adjustment are new limits, new fees, less expansion, more productivity or even delays in tax cuts.

Others argue that now is not the time to worry about deficits; now is the time to invest in America and start serious pump-priming. Those like Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman advise not to worry about the deficit—worry instead about the nation's economy and make sure citizens keep their jobs and homes.

That's a fair and reasoned response. Instead, to be like Obama and say we will search under the pillows on the sofa for loose change, or like McCain who thinks we will just stop spending, is way past disingenuous.

Who says the silly season is over?