"Inside, according to a witness, he told the House members, "This is the moment . . . that the world is waiting for," adding: "I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions."

As he marches toward Inauguration Day (Election Day is but a milestone on that path), Obama's biggest challenger may not be Republican John McCain but rather his own hubris.

Some say the supremely confident Obama — nearly 100 days from the election, he pronounces that "the odds of us winning are very good" — has become a president-in-waiting. But in truth, he doesn't need to wait: He has already amassed the trappings of the office, without those pesky decisions.

The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder reported last week that Obama has directed his staff to begin planning for his transition to the White House, causing Republicans to howl about premature drape measuring. Obama was even feeling confident enough to give British Prime Minister Gordon Brown some management advice over the weekend. "If what you're trying to do is micromanage and solve everything, then you end up being a dilettante," he advised the prime minister, portraying his relative inexperience much as President Bush did in 2000."

A transition team, and he's not been elected yet?  He is what "the world is waiting for"?  Give me a break!  Who in heaven's name does this ego-maniac think he is?  I think he's buying into the "messiah" bull the drive-by media has been touting. [I personally believe that moniker is blasphemous!]  I must say, however, that the fact this story is coming from the never-right-wing WaPo tells me the left-wing media are seeing his arrogance, and are having a problem with it too.  Perhaps they'd like to take responsibility for having created this monster?