Terms too deep for me

I'm sorry, I haven't gotten to a place yet where I can worry about how Europeans will react to Barack Obama when (if) Barack Obama becomes president. This is apparently a disability that is not shared by the Times of London's op-ed page:

Some on the Left are getting their count-me-outs in already, realising that Mr Obama is, after all, a big-game hunter, a full-trousered American candidate. They, I think, are more realistic than those who manage on one day to laud the Democrat as not being a real politician, and on the next to praise him for his sensible left-trimming when seeking the party's nomination and his equally sensible centre-hugging once it was in the bag. I say the antis are more realistic because, eventually, we will hate or ridicule Mr Obama too - provided, of course, that he is elected and serves two full terms. (ToL)

Provided. That's a selective quote, of course, and the full editorial is a lot more supportive of Americans than we might deserve at this point from a European editorial page. But it just reminds me of all the second-guessing and pontification that we're engaging in over here--is Obama experienced enough, has he got what it takes, whatever that indefinable quality is. And the answer is that it's hard to say. There's no real preparation for the office of President of the United States; there can't be, because there are no other reasonably comparable jobs. Governor of a state? To make a quick and dirty calculation, roughly one-fiftieth the responsibility. Senator? One-hundredth. I admit that Barack Obama isn't a known quantity to me. All I know is that Barack Obama is as intelligent as we could hope for; that he is by all indications humble, and that he is not a Republican. In 2001, the Republican Party had the chance to make me a Republican voter and they blew it irretrievably through what I feel to be a misguided war of choice abroad, and a all too well directed war against civil liberties at home. John McCain, for all his touted maverick independence, is still very much a Republican. It took a lot of hard work to get me to the point where I am unconditionally willing to roll the dice with Barack Obama because the last eight years were so lacking in leadership except on those issues that made me less secure and less prosperous, but I'm there now.