The Washington Post (US)
Sorry, Senator.Let’s Salvage What We Can
 

It’s been a pretty dire week for John McCain – Barack Obama has been endorsed by the New York Times and the Washington Post and in Sunday’s edition of the Washington Post, an opinion piece goes even further in saying McCain simply can’t win.

David Frum is a conservative strategist and former writer for George W. Bush during his first term.

"How is it that the Republicans are condemned to lose?" he asks. "Well, McCain intended to run his campaign based solely on his impressive biography… with some conservative orthodoxy thrown in. It didn’t convince Americans so he changed approach and took on Sarah Palin as his running mate – hoping this would appeal to women and independents.
This didn’t work either! She did get the support of the conservative base and this was where yet another error was made. The strategists decided to pursue this strategy further and effectively ‘Palinized’ the campaign. Republicans hit out at Obama suggesting he was alien, radical and socialist. While this mobilised the core of the party, it alienated the middle ground.

"The result: one senior Republican House member has said, “There isn’t a seat in the country that is safe…We could lose any of them.”

"And it’s even worse in the Senate."

So Frum offers two pieces of advice:

1 Every dollar that can be shifted to a senatorial campaign must be shifted to a senatorial campaign.

2 The message must change to acknowledging that the Democrats will probably take the White House but warning of the dangers of one-party, left-wing government.

Voters prefer divided government, according to Frum, especially with the government now owning a big stake in the nation’s banking system. Therefore, he says, Americans may be won over to some extent by being reminded that it’s wise to put that money under one party control. Damage limitation is the way forward, it seems.

La Stampa (Italy)
The streets of Italy are Veltroni’s
 

Républicca (Italy)
A people in motion
Veltroni: "Festival for Democracy"

Veltroni, the former mayor of Rome, is an iconic figure of Europe’s declining socialist movement. Right now, Berlusconi’s losses are his gains. A reported 2.5 million Italians crowded into the streets of Rome on Saturday to approve his political message.

Veltroni’s centre-left Democratic Party has accused Berlusconi of fascism in his hardline immigration policy., Cuts in education which could see 100 000 jobs go before 2012 have also angered the public.

Barely five months after being re-elected, it seems the Italian Prime Minister is now facing a rising tide of opposition.

South China Morning Post (China)
A chance for China to help share a fairer global system

China’s Sunday Morning Post has an editorial piece saying, while the financial meltdown has presented a challenge, it’s an opportunity for emerging powers.

The paper welcomed Nicolas Sarkozy’s request for Chinese support in redrawing international financial regulations and restructuring multilateral institutions.The Morning Post laments the fact that China has just 3.7 percent of the votes in the IMF compared with 4.9 for Britain and 16.8 for the US. This is one of the areas ripe for reform, the paper says, and China needs to seize on it.

Le Journal du Dimanche (France)
Autour du monde dans 80 jours
 

We’ve all heard of around the world in 80 days…Well the French President has probably been around the world 6 times in 80 days, this article suggests.

French Sunday paper Le Journal du Dimanche asks how Sarkozy does it. A series of photos show him in Beijing for the Olympics, in Afghanistan to visit a French army regiment after 10 soldiers were struck down, in Moscow to negotiate a peace deal after the invasion of Georgia, at the UN in New York to plead for a new economic order, at Camp David last weekend with George W. Bush and in Beijing again this past week… all of this within a six week period.

A man half his age couldn’t do it. There’s not a chance that I could do it! A spokesman for the Elysée was only too happy to clarify how the President manages his busy schedule. A friend of Carla Bruni is apparently his personal trainer – he jogs at least twice a week. He needs only 7 hours sleep apparently – although that’s more than you get on the morning shift at France 24! He has reduced the number of daily meetings he presides over from around 20 to just 6 or 7. Advisors say he is given plenty of breathing space during the day also. He doesn’t drink or smoke and apparently eats mainly white meat, fish and vegetables. Also according to the Elysée, Carla Bruni is a great support. She often cooks for him in the evening in her own home in the 16th arrondissement of Paris and he goes to bed around midnight. ‘Super Sarko’ indeed…