President of....?

The race is on...or so we may think. But political pundits have unanimously declared it over, even before the votes are cast, by Americans. Nov 4 is supposed to decide the fate of the decider: McCain or Obama. If we're to follow the conventional wisdom, one of the would be decider was done in by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers than anything else. If there's one person who benefitted most from the banking crisis it has to be Obama. 

The race was a virtual tie before the financial crisis a month ago. And then fate played a cruel joke on John McCain. The genesis of the housing crisis is not in Republican philisophy of less govt. but in the decidedly populist, and liberal, idea of spreading housing ownership, even to those who cannot afford it. 

It is most disconcerting though that rather than clearing the Augean stables what we're witnessing from the debris of financial rubble is a socialist America: universal healthcare, govt. paying for mortgages, Keynesian style unlimited govt. spending and what not. The possibilities for increased govt. ownership in virtually all aspects of life are just limitless. And that limit is being pushed like never before. 

But this is the side story. The hero of the moment is, of course, Barack Obama. Everyone, from Hollywood celebrity to third-world journalists, are raring to get on the Obama bandwagon. People who don't even vote in their country(including those who don't let anyone else vote in their little authoritarian backyards) have voted aye for Obama. For self-confessed global citizenry this obsession with imperialist America is quite ironic. 

From fear and loathing of Washington, D.C. to falling over each other for the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, this  volte-face by the global elite is no short of a miracle. Obama may well become the POTUS, but he is their President first and foremost. Or so they think. Now. 

Something tells me this disillusioned group is in for some serious disappointment. Obama has no option but to tread the centre-position on foreign policy issues. The surge in Iraq is not about to disappear anytime soon. The response to Russian, Chinese threat or Islamic fundamentalism can hardly be any different or scaled down, unless he wants to replicate the failed presidency of Jimmy Carter. The budget deficits are here to stay, and grow even further, if tax and spend wealth distribution of the Obama campaign gets any drift. 

President of world's liberal non-voting class might very well end up as a not so atypical President of United States. Exactly one week is a very long time in politics.