Cheering European Crowds -- All For Naught?

A USA Today poll showed John McCain leading Barack Obama among likely voters, reversing the five-point lead Barack had last month. The poll likewise indicated that Barack's trip abroad had done nothing to shore up confidence in his ability to serve as Commander-in-Chief (it was taken between last Friday and last Sunday).

It's interesting, isn't it, that despite a foreign trip that by all accounts went well, and which gave rise to dazzling photo-ops, the poll has gone in the opposite direction.

What do you think the reasons are? I mentioned one theory yesterday. Could there also be a sort of revolt among normal people at the elites' efforts to shove an Obama presidency down America's collective throat? Did the foreign trip suggest to voters that there's a big difference between being a popular international political "rock star," on the one hand, and on the other having the willingness (and toughness and ability) to hang tough for America's interests when the situation demands it? Or has the magnitude of Barack's assorted flip flops alienated voters who thought he was going to be a "different" kind of politician?

I'm interested in your theories.