On Friday I wondered how Barack Obama would respond when Tim Russert confronted this weekend him with the '08 question. Now we know:

"Given the responses that I've been getting over the last several months, I have thought about the possibility, but I have not thought about it with the seriousness and depth that I think is required," Obama said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "After November 7th, I'll sit down and consider it, and if at some point, I change my mind, I will make a public announcement and everybody will be able to go at me."

And then there was this interesting exchange on Obama during the round table discussion at the end of the show:

MR. RUSSERT: David Broder, before we go, you just heard Senator Barack Obama, who nine months ago said, "I will not seek the presidency or vice presidency." And today, he rather candidly said, "Well, that's what I believed then and I may be changing my mind." What's your take on that?

MR. BRODER: He's under a lot of pressure and is riding a wave of his own in terms of publicity, to jump in. It would be a big gamble for him because his potential is so huge and he is, at this point, pretty green in terms of experience. Lacks any executive experience. Never has had to sit in a job where he was the single decision maker, as a president is. But he is an enormously attractive candidate and I thought he handled it--you very well this morning.

MR. NOVAK: Certainly, Tim, I, I took that as an announcement of possible candidacy that was, that was making news on, on MEET THE PRESS. I think he's a very attractive personality, but I think the fact that everybody's so excited about him, and everybody's writing about him, indicates there's a lot of vote--of Democratic resistance to Hillary Clinton and the whole field that we have. Because I have seen the candidates who have really been inspirational candidates with their rhetoric: John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton. And talk about a loser from Illinois, Adlai Stevenson. I don't see this in a Barack Obama; I don't see much humor, I don't see much irony. I'm not yet convinced that that--this is the answer to, to a Democratic victory.

MR. HARWOOD: Tim...

MR. RUSSERT: Voters seem more...

MR. HARWOOD: ...I talked to a former top aide to Bill Clinton last night who said Barack Obama will run in 2008, Hillary Clinton will not. So we'll see what happens there.

MR. RUSSERT: Hillary Clinton will not?

MR. HARWOOD: That was his prediction.

I don't know if I believe the part about Hillary taking a pass on '08, but I'm starting to buy into the hype that Obama might run.

If he doesn't, Obama is staring at the potential likelihood of another 10 years in the Senate, at which point he won't have the cache of being a hot new commodity and he'll also have built up a substantial voting record - and probably a very liberal one at that.

Obama is only 45 years old, so he does have the flexibility to take a pass and come back in '12 or '16. On the other hand, JFK was elected at 43, and Bill Clinton took office at 46.

But the real question isn't age, it's whether Obama is ideologically well-suited for the current moment in history. JFK had legitimate credentials as an anti-communist Cold Warrior which were well-suited to his time, and Bill Clinton also had the political chops to sell himself effectively as a centrist "new Democrat" during a time of peace and prosperity.

It seems to me there are two relevant questions for Obama: After eight years of George W. Bush, will the country be thirsting for a "less divisive" and/or "less partisan" figure in 2008 and can Barack Obama effectively sell himself as that candidate? And in a post 9/11 world will the country be willing to vote for someone who has neither military service nor much in the way of national security experience?

One final factor, too, is looking across to the matchups on the other side. It's hard to see how Barack Obama could defeat a candidate with the experience, credentials, and mainstream appeal of John McCain or Rudy Giuliani - assuming either of those men could make it out of the Republican primary.

Now that I've worked my way through the various questions facing Barack Obama and '08, I've changed my mind. I think the hype is only hype.