And then there was the opening of the Democratic National Convention. His wife, Michelle Obama, spoke. Michelle has undergone a makeover. When last we saw her, she was insisting that her husband's triumphant candidacy represented the first time she was proud of her country during her adult life.

When she emerged onto the stage in Denver on Monday night, her hair was less wiry, her attire more feminine, her message more rehearsed. She focused on her own humble upbringing. She focused on her husband's qualities as a father. She talked about hope and change.

And then she said this: "And as I tuck [my] little girl and her little sister into bed at night, I think about how one day, they'll have families of their own. And one day, they -- and your sons and daughters -- will tell their own children about what we did together in this election. They'll tell them how this time we committed ourselves to building the world as it should be."

This is the message the Obamas want. It is the message the DNC wants. And it is the message Americans do not like. We do not want to hear a would-be savior's wife inform us that by voting for her husband, we join a historic and messianic movement. We do not want to hear about how the president must dedicate himself to "building the world as it should be."

We want a president who is confident, not arrogant; competent, not grandiose; a reshaper, not a remaker. We want a president who does not dismiss the abortion question as "above my pay grade" while embracing world transformation as a proper goal. We want a statesman, not a quasi-religious figure.

Moments define campaigns. By minimizing mistakes, candidates hope they can maximize their chances of victory. The problem for Barack Obama is that it isn't his mistakes that are killing him -- it's his triumphs of marketing and messaging that are destroying him. Every time he gets out his message, he loses voters. And that's a recipe for electoral disaster.