"You've been in a room once in a while with a rock star. He walks into the world, and he takes your breath away. I'd love him to be president, quite honestly," the actor told reporters Friday at the Venice Film Festival, where his legal thriller "Michael Clayton" was premiering.

Clooney, who banked a check for Obama at a private $1.3 million fundraiser in Beverly Hills last February, praised the U.S. senator for speaking out early against the Iraq war.

But with more than a year until the election, Clooney also said he liked Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards - and pondered whether former Vice President Al Gore might vie for the presidency again.

"It could be interesting," he said.

The politics of war was in the air at Venice, with two U.S. films competing for the Golden Lion dealing with the impact of the Iraq conflict.

Clooney - who said he made "Syriana" and "Good Night, and Good Luck," out of anger that he was labeled a traitor for questioning the decision to go to war - told reporters he thinks change is coming.

He said he believes Americans are now in the process of fixing the mistakes of the last few years.

Fixing things, "that's what Americans have been really good at," he said.