CNN's Jack Cafferty: Presidential scholars and historians say Obama has upper hand

From CNN yesterday:

JACK CAFFERTY: Don't bet on John McCain becoming the next President of the United States. That is the message coming from several presidential scholars and historians. Politico reports, these historians paint a bleak picture for McCain. They also say Barack Obama has the best chance for any democrat perhaps since Roosevelt beat Hoover in 1932. The historians say it should be an overwhelming democratic victory, noting McCain is facing one of the worst political environments for the party in power since World War II. There's also this, only twice in the 20th century has the candidate from the same party from a two-term president go on to win the White House. The last time it happened, in 1988 was when President Bush's dad replaced Ronald Reagan. But remember, Reagan was more than twice as popular as the current president is now.
McCain does have some advantages, including the fact that most people don't see him as a traditional Republican. Also, he could appeal more to moderates than Obama if the public would end up seeing the democrat as far left. And McCain might benefit from left over divisions in the democratic party from the long running primary season. Meanwhile, a new Gallup poll suggests the American people agree with these historians, 52 percent of those surveyed think that Obama will win regardless of who they support. 41 percent say McCain. And the world is weighing in too. A PEW poll, 25,000 people in 24 countries found that in all but two nations people put more faith in Barack Obama than in John McCain to do the right thing when it comes to world affairs. One of the two exceptions, that would be the United States.