I can't answer that question, Trip...I'm kinda new to guitars, but I did want to thank everyone who have answered Trippy's question. All your advice was really helpful to me. I read a lot of it just a day or so before I finally got barre chords down really well.
One thing that really helped me was one of those finger-strengthener things, like this: http://www.gripmaster.net/gripmaster/
Everyone else here is dead-on with advice about modifying your guitar, though. My first guitar was a Yamaha acoustic that I could not play no matter how hard I tried. The body of the guitar was huge, the strings too high off the fretboard, and the strings were really thick. It's not a bad guitar - just way too big for me. I started borrowing my husband's much smaller guitar and that's what I've learned on. It's MUCH easier to play.
If you've been trying for a while and still having difficulties, it probably isn't that you don't have talent or that you suck...it probably is a problem of not having the right guitar for YOU. I'd check into those modifications everyone is talking about. It made all the difference in the world for me just playing a different guitar. Good luck, man... ;-)
