RALEIGH – I just had a clarifying moment.

I was watching a rerun of “The Simpsons.” (Very good, excellent riff on “Stand by Me” and Johnny Carson, not the point). During a commercial break, I caught the new television ad from the Erskine Bowles for Senate campaign.

Perhaps you’ve seen it. The ad begins with pictures of children (of course) and some silly banter between Bowles and a kid about his eyeglasses. In a voice-over, he talks about the importance of being able to see. Then Erskine, properly bespectacled, comes on the screen and promises to do what it takes to make sure that North Carolina’s children have appropriate vision correction. The ad ends with an “Erskine Bowles for Senate” placard made to look like an eye chart.

OK, where to begin. For one thing, did they really have to take off from Bowles’ single distinguishing feature, his goofy nerd-glasses? They’ve already made the obvious “Erskine Bowls” pun. What are these high-priced consultants of his, the masters of the obvious? ABC comedies have better writing than this.

Second, is this what politics has devolved into? We have a Middle East in crisis, continued turmoil on Wall Street, lingering fears of a terrorist attack, a North Carolina economy going down the tubes, taxes soaring, frustration mounting – and Erskine Bowles is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on an eyeglass commercial? Even he looked like he didn’t know what he was doing in this ad, though to be fair to his media people, that’s his natural look.

Third, what business does the federal government have in this area? I doubt seriously that the Founders risked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor – that Washington crossed the Delaware and Patton the Libyan desert – that Blues fought Grays and doughboys headed off “over there” – that political activists and civil rights leaders and suffragettes and, gosh, anti-war hippies bravely challenged the authority of the state – all to create and defend a political system that allows a candidate for the U.S. Senate to run on the awesome eyeglass issue. I mean, the job is not the Optometrist General. Though perhaps, if we limited it to that, the Republic might endure less damaging legislation.

My final point is, I think, the most compelling. Yes, it is possible that some people haven’t really heard of Erskine Bowles yet, so this serves as a kid-friendly introduction to him. Yes, some are so deluded that they think “an eyeglass in every pot” is an appropriate platform for a Senate candidate. Yes, there are those who see no problem with Washington butting into what is at least a local, and in most cases a family, issue.

But I have a hard time believing that very many of these pathetic individuals watch “The Simpsons.” The implications are just too awful to contemplate.