Rapidly we are approaching the moment, the point of no return. We are, most of us, incredulous that the voter populace could be so whacked out that John McCain might have a banana’s chance in ape-ville to continue the Bush legacy. We are, most of us, holding our breaths until January 20th, 2009 for a sudden shock wave to spread from Washington, changing these times we live in. We are, most of us, anxiously anticipating the cleansing of our worldly image and a return in the world eye to an America that isn’t mumbled or hushed or hidden.

We haven’t done much towards these ends, mind you, except to let the months and the years pass. We haven’t acted or even been aware of just how bad it’s been, but we really can’t wait for it. It’ll be righteous.

But.

Things don’t work that way. First of all, Bush won twice, so I don’t put any bets down where American voters are concerned. Unpredictable animals, that lot. Secondly, Barack Obama is not Albus Dumbledore, and it won’t be fast and furious with a deep magic in his eyes, love in his heart and a phoenix feather wand that he changes the course of this nation. Not to mention that even though we’ve all been acting like it for the last 2 years, it’s not senioritis time for voters yet; there’s still plenty of time to make things worse.

Check it out: very soon it will evolve to be clear and public knowledge that your country is going to actively start World War III by bombing Iran. This is not exhibitionism. This is a common sense and educated conclusion from paying attention to anything beyond CNN and the Situation Room, which frankly, don’t report the news or any other kind of situation, for that matter. They are in the business of giving you something to stare at and not change the channel.

There. I said it. You knew it all along, but you can continue to pretend, if you like.

And once again, the current administration defends its position of aggression by saying it’s a last option. Note, though, that it’s McCain, who could, by all accounts be the next president, who has already rejected diplomacy, which to him means “sitting down with the Iranian president or supreme leader in the hope that we can talk sense into them.”

This is the first problem: American leadership doesn’t understand the middle east. They have absolutely no idea what’s on the other side of the table. And here’s what’s worse: they don’t care.

“Talk some sense into them,” John McCain said.

Really, John? That’s the approach we’re taking? Do these people in Washington really think that diplomacy is John Wayne-ing them into the sand and maybe a round of noogies? Iran is a country, not a band of school-children bullies or mining town thugs. There are real people who live there, educated people, good people, successful people, and also a bunch of lunatics, just like we have here. Yes, they have some customs and traditions and laws that are kinda weird to us in the west. But who do you think makes atrocities like pancake-wrapped sausages on a stick? To assume that what they need is a lecture is either sheer arrogance or profound ignorance, or maybe both. But we don’t have time to figure out which. The clock is ticking.

Look: this is not a case of misunderstanding. This is a case of at-odds-values. No one is going to convince the Iranian government that Israel is not a “stinking corpse” any more than they’re going to convince someone who still believes the Holocaust was made up that it wasn’t. But that’s just a pretty picture for the press, and not the real issue here.

The real issue is that the Unites States has a policy to defend Israel at all costs and that policy is at odds with the lucrative oil business in the rest of the middle east. Deepening the issue, there are few people who can explain why the US defends Israel, yet they stand by it and make policies around it. It’s confusing, like not knowing why Dumbledore stands up for Professor Snape.

But while we sit and get lied to, things are brewing, and there is still plenty of time for Bush & Co. to announce that they are about to bomb Iran. Likely that they’ve already decided to, and John McCain knows about it, you can bet on that. No one in the press is asking questions, no one in the government is talking about much beyond shiny things like Scott McClellan’s “they made me do it” book, or same-sex marriages. And that, I guess, is our tradition.