At the front

North Carolinians, having seen the battle for the White House up close, will help America pick a leader for troubled times

Only a few months ago it would have been hard to imagine that North Carolina, reliably Republican in presidential elections since 1980, would become a "battleground state." Yet the major candidates for president and vice president have been in Tar Heelia multiple times in these last weeks. That has intensified interest here, evidenced by the million-plus people who took advantage of early voting.

Today, it's time for a little retrospective on what is surely one of the most significant elections in this country since 1932. Then as now, a president was being chosen to pull the country from serious economic crisis and restore a battered American spirit. The 44th president of the United States will need to be not just an agent of change, but an architect of rescue.

One of the men on the ballot came to the campaign as a veteran warrior in every since of the word. John McCain, Republican senator of Arizona, served his country as a combat pilot in Vietnam, and paid for that service with severe injuries and more than five years as a prisoner of war.

McCain, 72, was also scarred by his 2000 campaign for his party's presidential nomination against George W. Bush, whose victory hinged on a brutal attack against McCain in the South Carolina primary. Even in the course of this run for the White House, McCain was almost counted out when his campaign ran short of money.

A noble vision

The other man, a young (47) senator from Illinois named Barack Obama, has himself been tested, not the least in the circumstances of his upbringing. He was the child of a black father and white mother, and was raised in modest surroundings by his grandmother. His is an inspiring story as well, one of high achievement and an admirable determination to help others in his adopted hometown of Chicago.

Obama did not come to the Democratic nomination easily, defeating former first lady and now New York Sen. Hillary Clinton in a lengthy, rough campaign that was as Democratic nomination battles often are -- contentious, divisive, at times chaotic. Yet the senator's calm reserve has served him well. He stands on the brink of history.

The News & Observer has, for reasons detailed in a previous editorial, endorsed Obama for president. He is a man with a clear-eyed vision of what he wants the country to be, namely one helpful to the ordinary citizens who shoulder many burdens, one supportive of the elderly and the poor as America has prided itself on being, one that backs its troops with what they need in battle but sends them to that battle cautiously, one that preserves the opportunity for all that has been a hallmark of the nation since its beginnings.

McCain initially tried to make this campaign about character, which unfortunately meant an unending series of broadsides in commercials attempting to brand Obama as some kind of terrorist sympathizer because of his links, such as they were, to a former violent radical in Chicago. Obama of course has denounced the actions decades ago of William Ayers and Ayers' cohorts. But the GOP campaign has been all about trying to divide the people and play on their fears. Even now the assaults continue, and they are a diversion from a discussion of solutions for crises.

Economy in the spotlight

The crisis at hand, and the one that has molded the race more than any other, has been the credit freeze-up -- linked to the collapse of the housing bubble -- that has forced a $700 billion to $1 trillion federal bailout of financial institutions.

When this campaign began, it could not be foreseen that the economy would emerge as the defining issue. On this, Obama has based his strategy on tax cuts for those of moderate incomes, affordable health care, stronger regulation of banks and more horses for government regulators to enforce rules either ignored or weakened by the Bush administration, thus allowing Wall Street to go wild.

McCain, who supported the administration's free-market mantra down the line, seemed caught by surprise by the financial five-alarm meltdown. He removed his financial adviser, former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, after Gramm reckoned that the recession was "mental" and that people were "whiners."

But beyond rhetorical bombast about Wall Street greed and how people are hurting and a last-minute proposal for the government to "buy up" bad mortgages, McCain has stuck to promises of lower taxes for the wealthy and a tax credit scheme for health care that might in fact leave many people unable to afford or obtain their own insurance.

America needs a president who is engaged with average citizens, who understands that economic calamity can't be avoided with weary old policy. It needs a president with foresight, a president with the ability to bring people together and not win an election by tearing them apart, a president who understands politics both local and global. We will say it one more time: America needs Barack Obama.