The most entertaining aspect of Barack Obama’s prediction that he’ll serve two consecutive Presidential terms is not the gargantuan overconfidence of the candidate, but the fudging on the part of worshipful media: From CBS2 Chicago:

“It’s a good time to be in Chicago,” Barack Obama said to the cheering crowd. “The White Sox are winning. The Cubs are winning. And Chicago’s going to win the 2016 Olympics.”

“In 2016, I’ll be wrapping up my second term as president, so I can’t think of a better way than to be marching into Washington Park alongside Mayor Daley, alongside Rahm Emanuel, alongside Dick Durbin, alongside Valerie Jarrett as President of the United States, and annoucing to the world, ‘Let the games begin!'”

The remark was a contrast to Obama’s usual style of rhetoric, which tends to be charismatic, yet understated and not prone to brash predictions. But since it became clear he was going to be the Democratic presidential nominee, a shift has been detected in his demeanor.

Has he been the nominee since April? That’s when he said

And let me make one last point about the comparison to McGovern and Dukakis, both excellent men, but I’m a pretty darn good politician . . . I can give a pretty good speech, and I can connect and inspire the American people in ways that have become apparent. I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t pretty good at mixing it up, and so much of the attack machine that’s been built up is part of the old politics.

Or maybe he got the nod in January. That’s when Obama gave a speech at Dartmouth that included the following:

… a light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down upon you, you will experience an epiphany, and you will suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote” for Obama.

Perhaps Obama’s nomination goes back to June 2005? That’s when he wrote in Time magazine:

In Lincoln’s rise from poverty, his ultimate mastery of language and law, his capacity to overcome personal loss and remain determined in the face of repeated defeat–in all this he reminded me not just of my own struggles.

Just when did this charismatic, yet understated Barack Obama roam the earth?