If Barack Obama loses in November, the names Bowles and Simpson may come back to haunt him. Last year the US president rejected the findings of the 18-member fiscal commission even though it was he who created it. Most of the rest of 2011 was devoted to a game of fiscal high jinks with Congress that resulted in the first ever US sovereign credit rating downgrade. It is never too late for Mr Obama to embrace Bowles-Simpson. Indeed, it could help carry him over the electoral finishing line.

There are just nine weeks before the general election, which means there are nine weeks and one day to go before Mr Obama begins the next game of chicken to stop the US going over a fiscal cliff. On Thursday Mr Obama will give his set piece address to the Democratic convention in Charlotte. The case for championing Bowles-Simpson is compelling both on the politics and the substance.

Widely feted as the Republican party’s most serious fiscal reformer, Paul Ryan has spent much of the past three weeks undermining that reputation. Mr Romney and his running mate talk tough on fiscal policy but they have failed to offer credible numbers. Mr Ryan was one of the seven members of the Bowles-Simpson commission to reject its report. In his speech in Tampa last week he attacked Mr Obama for failing to endorse the report. He omitted to mention that he had voted against it.