Looking at this a bit further, there's something we all forgot to take into account here: there's a ridge up north that may have an effect on this system as it pushes west. By what I understand...it may force this system to curve away from the United States with no impact...or, if the system continues on a more westerly track than the models suggest, bypass the ridge altogether and continue moving towards the Gulf. We'll see.
Now looking at this, landfall on the United States is now in quite a bit of doubt (in addition to the fact that this thing is still at least a week out from impact). I still agree with the models at the moment, impacting the Caribbean before curving north. Whether it curves north severely or gradually (much like Earl did, which scraped the Outer Banks), is all dependent on that ridge I mentioned.
EDIT: Regarding intensity, other than some moderate wind shear in the storms anticipated path in the next 24 hours, I'm not seeing models detect much shear in the storms path. Ocean temperatures are more than suitable for intensification as well. I'm fairly confident that this system will become at least a hurricane before it impacts any land. How intense it gets, I don't know.