Twice we have been wrapped up in some kind of national drama and a catastrophe has come in from out of our collective blind spot, swept away the import of the previous discourse, and laid bare a "true" problem.  In the case of the 2012 election, Superstorm Sandy displaced the petty bickering between the two candidates, illustrating that the ongoing cataclysmic global warming is more important than any domestic squabbles.  Secondly, all the b.s. around the "fiscal cliff" (December 2012) was pushed into the background by the Newtown elementary school shooting, demonstrating the need for adequate gun control laws in the U.S.