So says Sandy, "Go ahead and protect yourself against low-risk threats. I want to remind you how vulnerable you are to the more predictable, commonplace variety."
Sandy also will batter the other elements of the region's infrastructure, in which America has failed to invest for the past half century or so. She will destroy weakened roadways and bridges and breakwaters. She will lash ancient port facilities. She will paralyze an air-traffic control system and railway systems that lag behind the world in their use of modern technologies. She will say, "Why aren't you spending your precious resources to protect your people and your economy? Why are you frittering away money building roads and airfields on the other side of the world when you should be taking care of business at home?"
She will also, of course, be the first figure on the national stage to do something about the scourge of obscenely over-financed campaigns. Instead of merely complaining about them, she will pull the plug on them by turning off power to millions. While sitting in darkness may be a hardship, enjoying a break from campaign ads (and Twitter and Internet snark and faux-analysis and political hyperventilation) will be seen by many as a welcome break.
Admittedly, this service comes at the high cost of making columns like this one unavailable to readers. But that seems small price to pay.
Finally, of course, Sandy really will have a political impact. We are not sure what it will be. There seems to be a kind of strangely otherworldly dimension to a giant storm that batters primarily blue states and involves the rare combination of circumstances that can send the impact of a hurricane into battleground territory like Pennsylvania and Ohio. Not only will ads be off the air, but early voting is being cancelled and some of the lingering impacts of power losses and infrastructure damage will certainly take a toll on voter turnout. Indeed, as it happens, Sandy may be that rarest of political actors -- one who reveals big truths and quite possibly has a lasting impact on world affairs. Because if, as seems likely, the U.S. presidential election is so close that any one big thing might shift the delicate balance, Sandy just might be the one to do it.
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