Obama is definitely an exception in that he seems comfortable enough in his own skin to crack a good joke without coming off awkward or totally out of touch as is the norm with most politicians.

These quotes brightened my day. Thanks.

I tried to put in Youtube links. . . didn't work.

Here's one slip-up from Parma, Ohio:
"I spoke to Richard Clarke, the Clinton's chief terrorist advisor. . . (pause) advisor about terrorism, I don't want anybody to get confused."

On immigration:
"If we deported everyone, we'd have to go arrest people out of fast-food joints, farms, factories, drycleaners, Mitt Romney's lawn."

Riffing on his healthcare plan:
"We're going to call in my own experts. What they'll undoubtably tell us that much of what drug companies call research and development is really those TV commercials. You know, the ones where people run through fields, looking all happy, you don't know what the drug is for. . . (pause) Except for that one drug, you know what that's for!"

Riffing on his Ethics Reform Bill:
"One of my colleagues said, 'I can't get meals from lobbyists. . . what do you expect me to eat at McDonald's?' I said, 'Well, some of your constituents do eat at McDonald's. But since you make $160,000 a year, you can eat at Applebees.'"

Barack Obama is the nicest, smartest, most comfortable and engaging politician I've ever witnessed. And he's funny, too.

Right now, hard-core Hillary supporters don't see that. To them he's arrogant, an empty suit, all talk, etc.

However, I think the problem with Hillary supporters is that they have been Hillary supporters from Day One.

Most of us Obama supporters began as open to the wide field before us and gravitated to HIM one-by-one. (I had to take down my Edwards sign to replace it with my Obama sign.) Sure, we liked his 2004 DNC speech, or we liked "Dreams from My Father" or the "Audacity of Hope," but as a presidential candidate I would guess that very few of us were "All Obama; Only Obama" (which is what I believe most Hillary supporters are).

And for all of Hillary's claims of toughness and experience (analyzed by DF in another spot that I'm not going to bother linking to), the truth is that "toughness" is often a chimera and even an impediment. And "experience"? Well, only first-term presidents are "experienced." (And, as a side note, I blame Michelle Obama for Barack's lack of experience; because if she had been the governor of a state and a former president, Barack would have nearly as much "experience" as Hillary.)

Besides, you want experience? How about Robert Byrd?

In truth, we elect the person we want to listen to multiple times a week for four or eight years, plus a ton of intangibles.

All of the policy arguments and experience points are heaped on after-the-fact as justification for that gut response to the person you can imagine, want, or desire to be your country's leader. (On paper, why not Bill Richardson?)

My gut response, growing with every good and bad situation he has found himself in during this campaign, is Barack Obama. And among voters in the Democratic primaries and caucuses, more people have gone with Obama than Hillary -- by a comfortable, possibly "insurmountable" lead.

(And at this point, the gut has been tested over and over again!)

And when McCain gets grumpy and glib and exhausted going up against Obama in the general election in the YouTube era, and he alienates everyone within pissing distance, the guts of the nation are going to go with Obama, too.

This guy really knows how to connect with people. He's similar in that way to the young Bill Clinton in 1992. Ultimately, personality matters, and when faced with Sunny Barack vs. Black Hole McCain, the Future vs. the Past, well, I think the country is going to go with Obama big time.