A Hurricane Approaches Washington, and so Does Sandy

*Hurricane Sandy isn’t the only storm approaching Washington. So is an electoral storm. President Obama’s job approval has fallen a stunning seven points in just three days. Overnight, Sandy’s minimum central pressure plunged to a staggering 951 mb. That’s lower than the snow bomb that wrecked the East Coast in 1993. Other ominous signs have appeared.

The polls show a president on the run. Romney is ahead or pressing hard in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and even Michigan. Virginia and North Carolina seem lost to Obama. So does Florida.

James O’Keefe has released videos showing Democrat campaign operatives assisting voter-fraud schemes and explicitly relying on Obama election-protection lawyers to advocate for the fraudsters inside the polls. A foolish and embarrassing video was cut with happening-girl Lena Dunham comparing voting for the president to something else.

Show that advertisement to fathers of daughters across Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan and tell me it is a net positive for Obama.

Look in, to the eye of the storm,

Look out, to the force without form.

This is the state of the Obama campaign. Disarray, criminality on tape, and retreat. Frankly, there hasn’t been a bigger disintegration the last few weeks of a campaign in my lifetime. The Obama campaign hasn’t been on offense since the disaster of the first presidential debate.

Worse, Sandy threatens to blast Philadelphia. Widespread power outages and general weather mayhem will interfere with Obama’s essential ingredient to a Pennsylvania victory. Across Virginia, Obama signs are almost nonexistent except in the northern suburbs. In long drives across the commonwealth, there are more houses with single “Kaine for Senate” signs than houses with Obama and Kaine signs.

Obama has also suspended his campaign entirely Monday and Tuesday to perform presidential duties. The last time a presidential candidate suspended campaigning, it was a catastrophe.

Yesterday I saw the strangest sight while moving a boat away from the approaching wrath of Sandy. In the middle of a wide saltwater river in Virginia, I thought I was approaching a pelican. As I got closer, I saw antlers.

In this giant threatening river swam a buck. Lost, disoriented, askew. I had never seen anything like it. As I pulled the boat closer, I could see the buck was enormous and old. Certainly it knew not to swim into the high fetch reaches of this river. It was out of place, disoriented, struggling. But it swam on, paddling and struggling to a fate that I suspected would not end the way the buck wanted.