I’ve been through three Hurricanes, Fran, Bertha, and Bonnie... two cat twos and a cat three. This is barely a cat one. You are right, they are way overboard in their hand-wringing...especially Potus. I predict this will be embarrassingly uneventful.
The Integrated Kinetic Energy (IKE)of Sandy is the highest ever calculated for a hurricane.
The media will be focused on Manhattan (much as they were focused on the French Quarter in New Orleans during Katrina, where not much happened) but there is going to be astounding damage on the coast of New Jersey, LI Sound, Raritan Bay, and the South Shore of Long Island - you'll see heavily populated barrier Islands like Fire Island cut apart in multiple places.