In terms of importance for the well-being of our country, I certainly agree with you. The whole evo/crevo debate is extremely unimportant. However, we both know how liberals and the media behave. If they see creationism/ID as a club that they can use to beat conservatives with and diminish our chances of winning elections, they will put the truly important issues on the back burner, and focus on relatively unimportant, but potentially damaging, issues like this debate.
I see ID as a net plus for conservatives in rallying the troops against the global warming / evolution / atheist crowd. But it's a side issue.