Now what?

My risky U.S. election prediction from several days ago that John McCain would win proved wrong: Barack Obama has been elected president of the United States. I found it impossible to accept supposedly neutral polling data and other predictions from the same "journalists" who had become such transparently partisan advocates for one candidate. In the end, the enormous margins predicted by many pollsters and pundits ("landslide", "Reaganesque") simply didn't happen.

As I write this, with more than 85 million votes counted, the margin is actually 51% to 48% -- a gap of three points. Compare that to the final predictions by Zogby and Gallup (11% gap each) or others in the Real Clear Politics table of polls, where the average pollster predicted a 7.6% margin.

Reaganesque? Not really. In 1980, Ronald Reagan won 44 states, with a 10% gap over Jimmy Carter. In 1984, Reagan increased that to a historic high: 49 out of 50 states, and a whopping 18% lead over Walter Mondale.

Obama indeed won tonight, but not by much. Had McCain won 1% more in Indiana, 2% more in Florida and 1% more in Ohio, he'd be president now. Obama's allies signed up at least 200,000 fraudulent voters in Ohio alone -- much more than the gap. Welcome to politics, Chicago Democrat style.

John McCain had every disadvantage: he was the candidate of an incumbent party, led by an unpopular president, in the middle of a financial meltdown and probable recession, outspent five-to-one by a Democratic Party led by an eloquent young man who was cheered on by the press. 51% to 48% isn't bad.

But enough about the past: what now?

I saw an unintentionally hilarious pundit on CNN who said that, in foreign affairs, the rest of the world will now lose a key criticism of America -- that it's racist -- and thus will deal with America more favourably. I think this is what psychologists call projection.

Liberal political pundits regard America as racist, but the rest of the world obviously does not, for every shade of race streams towards America as fast as they can, trying to immigrate both legally and illegally. America is one of the most tolerant countries in the world. Foreign dictators may hate America, but grassroots foreigners want to move to America.

But that's not the hilarious part. The hilarious part was that the pundit thinks that those who challenge America -- and the rest of the West -- today will substitute "good feelings" for their national interest, when it comes to foreign relations.

Perhaps Vladimir Putin, the ex-KGB boss, will find that, like the Grinch, his heart grew two sizes when Obama was elected. He'll no longer have ambitions for Georgia and the rest of the former Soviet Union.

Perhaps Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will discover that he's actually part Jewish, on his mother's side, and abandon his nuclear-fueled hatred for Israel.

Maybe Hugo Chavez will recognize President Obama as a sort of fellow aboriginal, and turn from a strategic enemy to ally.

This is how the world works according to the MSM -- the same folks who tutted at Sarah Palin's naivete.

No. We've already seen how the world reacts to Obama. When he was in Germany, giving his "citizen of the world" speech, he had one particular "ask" of the Germans: for them to increase their military role in Afghanistan. They applauded his speech, but declined his invitation.

But let's look at this from a purely Canadian point of view: how will things change for our country?

Opinion polls show that Canadians favoured Obama. Part of that was anti-Bush sentiment, and part of that is anti-war sentiment. How will Canadians react when Obama asks us -- as he has indicated he will -- to extend our mission in Afghanistan, as he increases the U.S. mission there?

Or how about when Obama -- the most economically left-wing senator -- rewards his union base, by raising tarriffs against Canadian goods?

I fear that Obama's economic policies will deepen the U.S. recession -- and that will have a negative effect on Canada. But, far more worrying to me is that Obama's foreign policy weakness -- not just his inexperience, but his declared one-worldism -- will invite the West's enemies to advance. That's not just against America's interests, it's against ours.