Ed Rollins, the Republican consultant, told me today what the polls have been telling everybody—Barack Obama will be elected the next president of the United States.

“John McCain, I think, is going to go down pretty big,” said Rollins, a Bronxville resident who has been a key adviser in numerous presidential campaign back to 1984 when he served as Ronald Reagan’s National Campaign Director.

Rollins said in a brief phone interview that McCain might’ve mustered a more competitive campaign if he had  Obama’s resources, but a combination of factors did him in—principally having to run in the shadow of the unpopular George W. Bush while the economy was tanking.

When McCain began his campaign it was all about who was best suited to be the nation’s Commander-in-Chief, said Rollins.

“But I think at this point in time, it’s who’s the better Economist-in-Chief, and that’s not his great strength,” Rollins said. “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. John was kind of in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

As for Sarah Palin?

Rollins said she was “untested in the national environment” and that campaign handlers failed to help her get through the grueling process. However, he praised her for energizing the GOP base.

“The sad part of this is that she’s a talent—she’s become a polorizing figure—but she’s a talent,” Rollins said. “And I think with a different team around her, she could become more effective.”

He predicted she will return for the 2012 race.

“She obviously has to go back and get re-elected in Alaska,” he said. “I think she’s going to be a very popular Republican. And every Republican in the country is going to want to have her come do fundraisers and those kinds of things.”

Palin now has the most important currency a politician can possess, Rollins said. “One hundred percent name I.D.”

In other words, no longer will it be Sarah Who? But Sarah What’s Next?

Rollins fully expects that she will return in four years.