Don't Disappoint the World - Vote Obamessiah

The world trembles as they wait for the verdict of the American people:

The world's verdict will be harsh if the US rejects the man it yearns for

Oooo, I just felt a shiver run up my leg. How bad will it get if Obama is summarily drummed out?

But what of the rest of the world? This is the reaction I fear most. For Obama has stirred an excitement around the globe unmatched by any American politician in living memory. Polling in Germany, France, Britain and Russia shows that Obama would win by whopping majorities, with the pattern repeated in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. If November 4 were a global ballot, Obama would win it handsomely...

If Americans choose McCain, they will be turning their back on the rest of the world, choosing to show us four more years of the Bush-Cheney finger. And I predict a deeply unpleasant shift... Suddenly Europeans and others will conclude that their dispute is with not only one ruling clique, but Americans themselves. For it will have been the American people, not the politicians, who will have passed up a once-in-a-generation chance for a fresh start - a fresh start the world is yearning for...

For America to make a decision as grave as this one - while the planet boils and with the US fighting two wars - on the trivial basis that a hockey mom is likable and seems down to earth, would be to convey a lack of seriousness, a fleeing from reality, that does indeed suggest a nation in, to quote Weisberg, "historical decline".

I like the line about the "Bush-Cheney finger", but starting Nov. 5th it will be the "McCain-Palin fingers" - shaped like moose antlers.
UPDATE: Check out Obama's worldwide electoral map here.