In the real estate business, it might be all about “location, location, location” but in the blame-game version of presidential politics, it’s all about timing.

You can’t be a credible candidate for president if you don’t know the rules about when to fix the blame. Apparently, you don’t do it Monday afternoons at 5 p.m., but 3:30 p.m. is a whole different story.

He’s John McCain, and he knows how to play the blame game. (Too bad that’s the only game he knows.)

No, sorry, scratch that. The timing issue is much more delicate than I allowed. It’s a matter of seconds, not an hour and a half. Assigning blame at 4:59:50 is perfectly acceptable, but 5 p.m., that’s a total no-no. That’s why McCain said this yesterday with impeccable timing:

Senator Obama and his allies in Congress infused unnecessary partisanship into the process. Now is not the time to fix the blame, it’s time to fix the problem.