Perhaps in a sign of desperation, Obama and Biden appear less like presidential candidates and more like professional ambulance-chasing lawyers. The Democratic campaign and its media cohorts have been running to-and-fro around the country hoping for disaster and tragedy at every corner and trying to find a way to pin it to Bush-McCain-Palin-Herbert Hoover. Rather than sobriety, they seem to exhibit the kind of glee you find in kids at an Easter egg hunt.
"Hey, look what I found on the White House lawn!"
"Another present from Barney?"
"No, it's better than that! I found Ebola!"
"Oh, joy! Let's hope it's airborne, and Bush smirks inappropriately while he's announcing the deaths of thousands!"
Hurricanes, Iraq, Afghanistan, Wall Street, stinky cats, icy pavements. Every mishap can be classified as one degree of separation away from McCain, two degrees of separation (Bush - McCain), or at most three degrees (Bush - Kevin Bacon - McCain).
Commercial break: If you've been injured in an accident or suffered from mental anguish during the past 8 years under George Bush, then Obama & Biden is here to represent you!
I suppose this is standard operating procedure for the party trying to regain the Presidency. Of course, we must now dismiss both Obama-Biden-Bubba Hornblower-Carter-LBJ-Johnson's and Bush-McCain-Palin-Nixon-Hoover-Harding's promises to elevate the discourse and run truthful campaigns. Hah! If anyone actually believed them, then they must never have paid attention to politics. Unfortunately, I never paid attention to politics, so I actually believed them. Boy, am I stupid!
Seriously, it's about time that we got serious about serious campaign reform. Hundreds of millions of devalued, but recently strengthening, dollars have been wasted on useless ads. Is this the way to run a democracy or choose our candidates? Is this the way to solve the institutionalized problem of stinky cats? No! I believe the proper way to resolve political debates is through pie fights, but sadly, I haven't really seen any traction for this idea.
All we can do is hope for change and put our country first during such desperate, fundamentally sound times of relatively tepid, potential semi-catastrophe.