What the world is reading

“This election is too big to be small,” claimed Bill Clinton before the Pennsylvania primary, but the six weeks leading up to it, proved to be ‘an exercise in dimunition’ for both Democratic contenders. Joe Klein argues that Obama emerged scraped and chastened after ‘Bittergate’, which revealed his disconnect with working class whites. He says that Obama’s high-minded appeal eschews the ‘low-information signaling’ that wins elections in America, he is half-hearted about things like how to roll a bowling ball or wear a flag pin. Clinton, by contrast, embraces the ‘shameless rituals of politics’ with feistiness and can give and take punches. Klein concludes that Obama will have to display a familiarity with the trivial things that average Americans care about, in order to take the high road...ie., he must ‘maneuver his way through the gutter’.

Welcome to Paradise, Newsweek

Our New Energy Crisis, Mother Jones

A special issue confronts the enormity of the current energy mess, and building a new economy ‘on the fumes of the old’. Big Oil’s subterfuges are only secondary — the fact is every technological advancement of the last 150 years has depended on more fossil fuel, and turning away will require a socio-economic transition of the same magnitude as the Industrial Revolution. The magazine busts the myths of ‘energy independence’ and ‘clean energy’, also suggesting some brilliant green ideas.

A Farewell to Arms, The Atlantic

South African dockworkers refusing to unload 3,080 cases of weapons and ammunition from a Chinese vessel, headed to Zimbabwe, possibly to crush Mugabe’s opponents made for a stirring story of labour action, but The Atlantic has some reservations: the job of stopping ‘wicked’ shipments belongs to customs agents, not the moral whims of unions, warns Graeme Wood.

And lastly, a glimpse into some of the advice column exchanges this week:

• 'My husband constantly upstages me...takes credit for my ideas, insinuates himself into my work life, appropriates my friends - what's going on?' Cary Tennis at Salon unhelpfully suggests seeking out the structural patterns in the relationship.

• Slate's Prudence is kinder to ‘Curry and French Fries’, an Indian-American whose parents won't accept his white girlfriend.

• This week's Shifting Careers advice column in The New York Times tackles long-distance business relationships, and how it's worth getting dressed up for that video-conference.

• Frugal Kitchen at iVillage has tips for American women worried about spiralling grocery costs (up 35 per cent in Belzoni, Mississippi) including the reminder that other countries pay a larger proportion of their income on food.

• The Washington Post's Carolyn Hax counsels ‘Frustrated Baker’ whose boyfriend often says ‘BLECH’ and spits out her offerings, even though others queue around for more. ‘I say ‘DON'T WASTE A PERFECTLY GOOD CUPCAKE’...I don't spit out his, or anyone else's recipe failures’, complains the justifiably hurt Baker.