As we head into debating season, Gallup reaffirms (Pew, Zogby, and Harris -- liberal-slanted polls all -- to the contrary) that President Bush holds a 52% to 44% lead among likely voters, 54% to 41% among registered voters. 54% approve of the job he's doing, and 47% declare they are "certain" to vote for Mr. Bush -- versus 37% who are that commited to Mr. Kerry.

Note to Mr. Bush's staff: Please take the lesson of the first Reagan/Mondale debate to heart and don't over-rehearse the man:

"Reagan rambled and seemed weary in his first debate with Mondale, raising questions about his age, 73. He said later he wasn't tired, 'I was overtrained.'

"I just had more facts and figures poured at me for weeks before than anyone could possibly sort out and use," he said. Reagan said he avoided that in the second debate, when he got off his memorable line to the question of whether his age would affect his second-term performance. 'I will not make age an issue," he said. "I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience.'

"Reagan claimed that wasn't practiced, either. 'That really was off the top of my head,' he said."

Let Bush be Bush, and he'll triumph every time; the plastic and manufactured can't compare to the honest and real.

The problem with Mr. Kerry is that he has always wanted to be President, and will morph into just about anything to get there. To paraphrase a comment the actor Peter Sellers made about himself years ago, Mr. Kerry has become so many characters that he's lost the real 'him.'

More likely, the 'real him' is that rich-boy windsurfing off Nantucket -- the one he tries to conceal on the campaign trail. It's not so much that he's lost sight of himself as that he needs to keep himself out of sight.

President Bush -- armies of critics to the contrary -- is what he is, like it or not. He hasn't always wanted to be President. Heaven knows, for much of his life he didn't know what he wanted to be! He has that healthy attitude toward the Presidency held by Reagan, Truman, and Lincoln -- that he and the office are separate entities; that he just happens to have the privilege of occupying that office for awhile; that it is not he that's important or great, but the Presidency itself.

In 2000, at least, Mr. Bush said he would be just as happy whether the people elected him or sent him back to his ranch. It is common knowledge that he feels "called" to be President at this time -- not as an entitlement, but as a duty. His actions over the last three years, resolutely doing what he had to do no matter what, bear that out.

Quite frankly, it is the Gnomon's view that no one who wants to be President should be given the job. It should always be reserved for those who run because they have to, not because they want to -- out of duty, rather than desire. Our best Presidents, from Washington on down, have come from those ranks.