Actually, I'm not.

I'll make a prediction. The upcoming debates will be the highest rated debates in at least a few decades. Everyone loves a good ass kicking, and Obama will deliver one.

People think Obama isn't all that great at debating, because he had to debate Clinton with one arm tied behind his back. The first rule of debate, when I was a debater, was: "never agree with your opponent." Obama and Clinton's policies were so similar that the minor points of disagreement were just too nuanced to be interesting.

McCain is a different story. Obama must be respectful, but he doesn't have to tiptoe around, hoping not to piss people off. It will be a welcome sight to behold. He'll do better than Bill Clinton did when he mopped the floors with Bush/Dole, not only because he's extremely intelligent, and works hard, but because McCain is a drooling moron that can't keep from contradicting himself every 5 minutes. Bush Sr., and Bob Dole, much as I dislike them, are very intelligent men. The only candidate that would be an easier pushover for Obama than McCain would be GWB, and even that's questionable.

Well, maybe Ted Stevens and his series of tubes.

"...there comes in politics a moment where what was once exhilarating ...becomes predictable and commonplace."

I look forward to being blasé about a president without contempt for the rest of the world, who doesn't filter world affairs through the lens of petro-machismo, who is well read and makes do without poisonous ideological blinders. A president who doesn't have to pretend to be an uneducated boob, who isn't afraid to pronounce "nuclear" correctly. I look forward to yawning at the same old-same old of a president who doesn't take his marching orders from the House of Saud and the shadowy entities behind the National Prayer Breakfast.

Please, please bore me, President Obama!

It's got nothing to do with the candidates, though. More like the fact that it's been about 18 months long.

It's summer, pundits! If you're going to spend the day gawking at your own navels, at least do it at the beach.

say it, but Shapiro is on to something and it's gutsy of him to write it.

We shouldn't shy away from making statements about Obama just because we're fans and he's a nice guy.

I've been on the Obama compaign email list for a while now and I've read articles and listened to his speeches online. Maybe he's just tired - it's been grueling I'm sure for him and his family, but I do wish for a bit more oomph and a little less pandering. But maybe I'm an idealist - maybe the pandering is necessary in the real world...

I watched the video of his speech in Berlin, but got bored quickly: I think he's been getting "Speech 101" lessons - the gestures seem rehearsed...and maybe they are. Then I read the transcript of the speech and I found myself disappointed when he began talking about communism - it was like a throwback to the Reagan years and the Evil Empire era - so old. I'm no fan of Putin by the way.

Going to Europe and the MIddle East seems like a PR stroke of genious, but it adds to the fatigue on this side of pond. And the Kennedy comparison is dangerous - Obama needs to be his own person - forget about "Ich Bin ein Berliner" or any other Blast-from-the-past.

Having said all this, he's more exciting that anyone we've seen in years - not hard to do - and if he doesn't beat McCain I'm leaving the country. Well, maybe not, but it will be a sad day for America if Obama loses.

Still, let's take off the kid's gloves and stop giving him special treatment. I'm sure he's bored with that too!

Maybe the reason so many people don't want to hear another word about Obama is that every word lately has been the source of disillusion -- another word about betrayal of his base, changing his views to match the Washington elite consensus (a.k.a. "moving to the center"). It turns out that being the candidate of change meant changing himself to be just another Washington insider after the nomination was sewn up. Please, don't tell me about it.

So Obama went to Washington and kissed the ring of AIPAC (which of course had to do to keep those superdelegates in the bag). He went to the Middle East and waffled on his commitment to get out of Iraq while pledging to open up a third war in Pakistan. And he is the peace candidate ?? Please, I've heard enough. Then he did the usual pantomime of eternal fealty to Israel. Guess what, AIPAC and the Israel lobby are the forces behind the Iraq war, the coming Iran war, the Afgan and Pakistan wars. When it comes time to make key decisions about these wars as president, who will Obama obey, his already-betrayed base or AIPAC? I don't want to talk about it.

He went to Washington and voted for unlimited presidential spying powers and immunity for past illegal spying. Change what ?? Vote for Obama and have Cass Sunstein as attorney general. My fingers are in my ears ... I'm not liiistening.

I'm not voting either. It turns out that Obama is not going to change anything after all, and his positions on foreign policy and rule of law have "changed" to be little different from McCain or the Washington consensus. The more politicians change, the more they stay the same. Turns out the only factor that could change anything in Washington is lack of money. As America edges closer to bankruptcy, the cost of fighting Israeli proxy wars forever might finally become unsupportable. That point will come sooner with John "no tax increase" McCain than with Obama. Tell me more about McCain -- is he really so bad?

This article answered the first question that came to my mind when I heard about this poll on the news last night, which was: Have they ever polled this question before?

No. I didn't think so.

And that brings up the next question: Why did they poll it this time? And how would similar questions poll, such as: Would you prefer that Obama had a more American sounding name? Would you prefer that Obama was white? Would you prefer that Obama had smaller ears? Cable news could ride the results of those questions for at least a month.