Overcoming Election Anxiety Disorder

By  by Hannah Lobel
Published on October 29, 2008

<p>There’s a steady feed of anxiety buzzing across the airwaves and blogosphere about Barack Obama falling short on Election Day.</p>
<p>First, there’s the <a target=”_blank” href=”http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/10/obama_to_ruthlessly_dominate_t.html”>infomercial gamble</a>.</p>
<p>Then there’s the incessant stream of bad news about <a target=”_blank” href=”http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/10/obama_to_ruthlessly_dominate_t.html”>voter suppression</a>. And the potential of a <a target=”_blank” href=”http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/10/24/florida_voting/”>Florida</a>
<a target=”_blank” href=”http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/29/us/politics/29anxiety.html?hp”>redux</a>.</p>
<p>And where to begin with the polls? <a target=”_blank” href=”http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/”>Nate Silver</a>’s soothing graphics and heady analysis can’t even stave the fear that the polls are way off. The <em>
<a target=”_blank” href=”http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html”>New Republic</a>
</em> and <em>
<a target=”_blank” href=”http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/28/AR2008102803675.html”>Washington Post</a>
</em> have some scary bedtime reading on that front. But what about the impact of Obama’s perceived lead? Will it keep would-be Obama voters at home? Will it convince hard lefters to go Green Party? How anyone in a post-<em>Bush v. Gore</em> world could succumb to such a line seems inconceivable, but my colleagues Julie and Danielle kindled such irrational fears in me yesterday by reporting that Green Party nitwits at Minneapolis’ trendiest co-op are handing out fliers for Cynthia McKinney with the chant, “Obama’s up 14 points.”</p>
<p>As if this glut of fear weren’t enough, some folks are spinning some hypothetical nightmare scenarios with all the care of horror film scriptwriters.</p>
<p>
<em>Newseek</em>’s Jonathan Alter was kind enough to spin this Halloween-esque yarn about “<a target=”_blank” href=”http://www.newsweek.com/id/165657″>Why McCain Won</a>”:</p>
<p>
<em>Obama shifted New Mexico, Iowa and Nevada from red to blue. But there was a reason Virginia hadn’t gone Democratic since 1964. The transformation of the northern part of the state couldn’t overcome a huge McCain margin among whites farther south. They weren’t the racists of their parents’ generation, but they weren’t quite ready to vote for the unthinkable, either.</em>
</p>
<p>
<em>…</em>
</p>
<p>
<em>Obama had wired every college campus in the country, and he enjoyed great enthusiasm among politically engaged young people. But less-engaged students told reporters the day after the election that they had meant to vote for Obama but were “too busy.” History held: young people once again voted in lower percentages than their elders. Waiting for them turned out to be like waiting for Godot.</em>
</p>
<p>And then there’s this personalized bit of horror that’s making the rounds from MoveOn.org. (I thank my big brother for sending it to me after I rattled on a little too long about recurring nightmares of McCain taking Pennsylvania.)</p>
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<p>So what’s a nervous wreck to do, outside of hitting the bottle or the Xanax?</p>
<p>Normally, I wouldn’t turn to <a target=”_blank” href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-david/waiting-for-nov-4th_b_137029.html”>Larry David</a> for advice about anxiety, but he does offer one option that, I suspect, many others are taking:</p>
<p>
<em>The one concession I’ve made to maintain some form of sanity is that I’ve taken to censoring my news, just like the old Soviet Union. The citizenry (me) only gets to read and listen to what I deem appropriate for its health and well-being.</em>
</p>
<p>Of course, there’s always yoga. The Huffington Post’s Tara Stiles has some election-timed tips in <a target=”_blank” href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tara-stiles/do-you-suffer-from-electi_b_137334.html”>this video</a>.</p>
<p>The Associated Press has a few suggestions as well:</p>
<p>
<em>Take care of yourself by getting enough sleep, eating right and exercising. You’ll feel better while recognizing those things you can control, says Wilmette, Ill.-based psychologist Nancy Molitor.</em>
</p>
<p>
<em>Realize that no candidate is as good — or as bad — as you might imagine, Molitor says.</em>
</p>
<p>
<em>When all else fails, change the subject, says Lisa Miller, associate professor of psychology at Columbia University Teachers College in New York. “Turn to those things which are more eternal and more important, such as nature and family,” she says. “It’s a great time to go into nature. Go camping.”</em>
</p>
<p>Unfortunately, these tips seem about as realistically helpful as the fantastical prescriptions the <em>
<a target=”_blank” href=”http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=671760″>Stranger</a>
</em> came up with last month, such as Palium, which “[i]nduces a Valium-like calm with respect to all things Sarah Palin.”</p>
<p>In truth, the best plan is to either tune out until November 5th or white-knuckle it until the results are in (really in).</p>

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