Look, peoples.  This election matters.  We all know that.  We also all know the heartbreak of seeing insipid attacks and divisive politics trump issues-based campaigning.  We know the pain of coming so close and losing when it seemed inconceivable that an election wouldn't go "our way."  So it's only natural that some amongst us would get a little panicky right now, what with the stupid turn in election coverage and the apparent shift in momentum toward McCain in recent polling.  But everyone needs to take a big step back and think about a couple of things.

I have family in the Gulf (Calcasieu Parish, LA).  Tonight, they've been told to evacuate their homes, just finally rebuilt from Hurricane Rita.  Some have, and some haven't.  This summer, my mother-in-law told me she would never evacuate again, no matter what, because it was just too hard to go through it the last time.  Too emotionally, financially, and spiritually draining.  She didn't say it, but the crux of the conversation was that she'd rather take her chances with whatever a hurricane might bring than with the disaster she knew the "relief" from FEMA would bring.  She's not a fatalistic, stupid, or particularly dour person - she just can't do it again.  And I know she's not alone.

Obviously, we can't blame the weather on the Republicans.  Not entirely.  But when I hear the Republican candidates and their surrogates take a hard line on "drill, baby, drill," and when I hear any hesitation on the realities of global warming, I get angry.  When I think about the fact that just two weeks ago,  a couple million people evacuated their homes in the Gulf region, and the Republicans got to claim that they had "learned the lessons of Katrina," while ignoring the fact that hundreds of thousands still don't have electricity, and the fact that the cleanup from Gustav hasn't really even begun, and that the levees in NOLA couldn't have withstood a direct hit... .  Well, again, I get angry. 

Yeah, McCain and Palin are seriously flawed candidates.  We have to do everything we can to keep them out of the White House and away from environmental, energy, and homeland security policy-making decisions.  God forbid either of them should ever be responsible for U.S. foreign policy.  Yes, please, let's make sure we don't have four more years of the same, but worse. 

But please, direct your ire and your consternation where it belongs.  Stop freaking out about what Obama and Biden are doing wrong, and start focussing again on what the Bush Administration is still not doing.  Sure, he's a "lame duck," but he's still shitting in the pond.  Obama can handle his campaign without our advice.  He's done so - remarkably well - for 19 months.  Our job, for now, is to elect him, not direct him.  And our job, always, is to hold our elected leaders responsible for the actions they do and don't take on behalf of the American people.