Here's the money quote: "what I love about Israel is that it is a robust democracy, and that they are committed to principles like rule of law and civil rights and civil liberties."

Perhaps as president Obama will encourage Israel to put those much admired principles into practice more often when it comes to the Palestinians. No one doubts that Obama's sympathies are with Israel, but lingering in the back of some voters minds are the ravings of Rev Jeremiah Wright.

Many Jewish voters have also been blitzed with viral emails questioning everything from Obama's religion to his commitment to Israel. For 15 months and more he's been fighting allegations - that he is a Muslim, that he took his oath of office on a Koran etc... Hillary didn't help matters much when she volunteered that he's not a Muslim, "as far as I know."

Obama claimed that he is ready for a much tougher phase of the race: a match up against John McCain who said last month, "It's very clear who Hamas wants to be the next president."

World weary from the sniping Obama responded today saying, "I think it's disappointing because John McCain always says, 'Well, I'm not going to run that kind of politics,' and then to engage in that kind of smear I think is unfortunate, particularly since my policy on Hamas has been no different than his,"

He added, "And so for him to toss out comments like that, I think, is an example of him losing his bearings as he pursues this nomination."

Obama suggested that the United States' influence around the world has diminished under George Bush. "The world wants to see the United States lead. They've been disappointed and disillusioned over the last seven, eight years," he said. "I think there is still a sense everywhere I go that if the United States regains its sense of who it is and our values and our ideals, that we will continue to set the tone for a more peaceful and prosperous world."

Obama also thinks the way the war in Iraq has been handled has kept the United States from focusing on key issues like energy policy, global warming and the economy. "Americans want to succeed," he said, "but we're going to have to make some investments and ensure that the dynamism and the innovation of the American people is released."

"It's very hard for us to do that when we're spending close to $200 billion a year in other countries, rebuilding those countries instead of focusing on making ourselves strong."

Obama predicted that he and Hillary Clinton would probably split the remaining contests and said Clinton would win the upcoming primary in West Virginia by a "big margin".

"Senator Clinton has shown herself to be an extraordinary candidate. She's tireless, she's smart, she's capable, and so obviously she'd be on anybody's short list to be a potential vice presidential candidate," he said. "But it would be presumptuous of me at this point... to somehow suggest that she should be my running mate."

When asked to respond to McCain supporters who have said Obama is not ready to be commander in chief, the senator from Illinois said he thinks what people are looking for is "good judgment."

"I think I've consistently displayed the kind of judgment that the American people are looking for in the next president," he said.