Great Presidents Born From Bad Times

 Flickr photo, used under the Creative Commons license. Rick Barton, codirector for the PCR Project at CSIS, wrote a piece for Politico titled Great Presidents Born from Bad Times. He outlines several key challenges facing President-Elect Obama's administration. Barton also offers issues that deserve priority attention:

• Addressing the disengagement from Iraq, a new regional security approach to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the Israel-Palestine peace talks through the appointment of three White House-based leaders with clear authority and responsibility. • Rejoining the global mainstream by signing long-pending United Nations agreements, such as the Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities and those for the disappeared and cluster munitions. • Closing Guantanamo

Read the full article.