Childish solutions

Sen. Clinton calls for a 'timeout' on new trade agreements:

"When I'm president we'll have a time out to take stock of where we are on trade," said Clinton, a senator from New York. "Every trade agreement has to be independently, objectively analyzed."

Sen. Clinton has also called for a forclosure timeout:

Senator Clinton recently announced an initiative to address the crisis in the subprime market, including increasing independent and face to face financial counseling for borrowers before they take out mortgages and .... a possible "foreclosure timeout" to create incentives for lenders to identify troubled mortgages and work out solutions with borrowers to avoid foreclosure.

One the one hand, calling for "timeouts" allows her to triangulate between the pro and con on any issue. This might be good politics, particularly for a front-runner who doesn't want to commit to positions during the primaries that might hurt her during the general election.

Timeouts make sense for kids because their brains take extra time to process new data. Adults, however, have studied free trade issues for centuries (Remember Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations). Bill Clinton (pro) and Ross Perot (con) debated free trade over a decade ago. If our distinguished Senators haven't yet made up their minds on the issue, more time will not help. It is interesting, though, that calling for timeouts continues the previously noted Democrat practice of trying to solve adult problems as if the adults were children.