>>People will respect and “like†the anti-christ (at least at first)...for that reason alone, it can’t be Obama.
Obama is certainly not the Antichrist, but your argument almost gives evidence that he is. In the beginning, he was loved and revered. He got the Nobel Prize for just being him. People thought he would heal racism and end war and fix the economy and turn back the tides. They worshiped him as a god.
The Bible says we wont know who the anti Christ is until after Christians have been removed from the earth (Rapture)
So we are only guessing when we say this guy or that guy could be.
Having said that, The Anti Christ might just say something like “I am going to save Christianity” as part of his deception?