Take a nap 2008

Barack, Hillary, John,

With six months remaining until election day, we, the undersigned, urge all three presidential candidates to declare a week's break in the campaign to get some rest and take a nap.

You all need to go lie down and take a nap -- a week of naps really. And that goes for your staffs and for the political reporters out there with you on the campaign trail.

You are all exhausted, and it is not bringing out the best in any of you. 

The sniping, the edginess is what happens to all of us when we've been going too long.  Like overtired 5-year-olds, you are squabbling over nothing! Picking on each other for things that really aren't that awful, exploiting one another's missteps and misstatements. 

We can see the fatigue in your eyes and we can hear the physical weariness in your voices.   And so we'd like you to shut down the presidential campaign and schedule a mandatory one-week holiday.  Your bodies, your minds and your spirits need a rest.  We'd like you to work out an agreement to declare a week's break in May.
 
Yes, it would be a startling departure from our competitive culture's relentless pace, and it would require trusting one another to really honor the agreement and not use the week to get ahead. But you can do that.

All three of you candidates declaring a week's break from presidential campaigning would be an impressive demonstration of good sense, compassion for yourself and others, leadership, and your ability to work with opponents to create a plan that's good for everyone. Even we voters are a bit tired of you guys right now.

So please, for the love of your country, your staffs and yourself, pick up the phone and make a three-way call. Get together and choose a week to take off. Do it soon. Thank you, it'll do us all good.