What should be one of the two or three most pressing matters of this year’s presidential campaign is being ignored by both major candidates. It is admittedly a tough subject to address, but it can be simplified by thinking of an ocean liner and an elephant.

The issue is that of federal debt. The ocean liner and elephant come from somewhat hoary aphorisms, and you can choose whichever one works best for you. We all know that “it takes a while to turn a ship around,” and more so for a huge ocean liner — or for a dangerously indebted government. And, of course, the way one eats an elephant is one bite at a time. In the case of the dangerously large federal debt, the job is so big that it will take one bite at a time for an elephant, plus a hippopotamus, too.