With the race to the White House in its last lap, a look at the concerns of the leading journals:

It’s Time/The Economist

THE lead article analyses the candidate most suitable to lead the United States of America at a time when it is “unhappy, divided and foundering both at home and abroad”, and pitches for Barack Obama. Admittedly, it’s a gamble, given Obama’s thin resume, and the suspicion that he is too far to the left. But he has a better chance, given the style, intelligence and discipline with which he has tamed successive opponents—the Clintons and the conservative right—as well as his tactful response to political fire and crises, such as the current financial one. His election would lay to rest the “ugly, racial wound left by America’s history”. McCain’s undoing is his age—”how many global companies in distress would bring in a new 72-year-old boss”—his sloppy choice of running mate as well as his backtracking on many unpopular but brave positions that had distinguished his career as a Senator.

The World That Awaits/Newsweek

THE challenge of governing America at this historical moment is the subject of Richard Haass’s open letter to the President-elect. With military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan, the war on terror, substantial anti-American sentiment and the consequences of the financial crises, Haass suggests a gradual reduction of US presence in Iraq while integrating the Sunnis into the national institutions, training Afghanistan’s armed forces to tackle the Taliban, persuading Iran to either give up or accept limits to its enrichment capability and bolster Palestinian moderates to engage with Israel.

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