This is It.

A few months ago, I noted that the impotence of the Democratic Party and the fecklessness of the Media had stifled any chance to have a perfect political storm over Iraq, or the corruption of the Republican Congress and Administration, or Bush's aggression against the Constitution and the rule of law. Torture and Katrina came and went, without Congress ever managing to assert its power even to subpoena an Administration official, or the Judiciary enforcing Habeas Corpus, the Great Writ.

It has been a sad failure, but the last bastion of democracy remains the November election. Even if the Media elite and the professional politicians in Washington cannot manage the necessary level of sustained outrage on any other occasion, an election provides a focus, and a moment of participation by the People, which can overwhelm the elite and its complacency. So, the Perfect Storm -- that moment of moral self-awareness for the body politic, in which account is taken of policy and its consequences -- has fallen back on the election. The Election.

And, right on cue, the essential element of a real, Perfect Political Storm -- an economic crisis of the 1st order, after festering for over a year, has arrived at a climactic moment.

Shall we also expect some dramatic moment in Pakistan, Afganistan or Iraq? That might be a bit too much drama.

But, the country is paying attention to the financial crisis. Really paying attention. On the eve of The Election.

This is It.