In recent days Barack Obama has made his closing argument to Pennsylvania voters. It doesn't seem to have gone too well. And that's what bloggers generally sympathetic to Obama are saying. Naturally, those bloggers are making excuses for Obama: The New Republic: "As for Obama's closing-night appearance on 'The Daily Show' ... I found it pretty disappointing. Maybe the brutally long, brutally, uh, brutal campaign has beaten all the spontaneity out of him (boiled all the hope out of him?) - I don't know." Time: "Obama seems either bummed or pissed or exhausted. He could be near death and still be a pretty good speaker, but he's very much off his game right now." Andrew Sullivan: "Obama doesn't seem to have a killer instinct." Maybe it's possible that Obama simply isn't as good a political performer as some make him out to be? In any case, how on earth is he going to stay up for that 3 a.m. phone call if he's this "exhausted" now? (Thanks to WEEKLY STANDARD intern Robin E. Wright, who helped research this blog.)