John McCain started off the week with a yawning imagery gap, lurching toward a strategy based on either contempt or resentment (or Hillary Clinton's candidacy). Even the weather and the stock market conspired against Johnny Mac this week. And, of course, the Prime Minister of Iraq didn't do him any favors by explicitly endorsing Obama's policies--a move that Noam Scheiber thought politically devastating.
Yet he somehow managed to pull up close to Obama in the polls, perhaps by taking Chris Orr's advice and staying out of the media spotlight--prompting John Judis to warn Democrats against getting too cocky.
Then came the speech in Berlin, which earned high marks in TNR's offices--though Mike Crowley and Noam worried that Obama may have taken the "citizen of the world" schtick a little too far. Our German correspondents praised Obama's choice of Berlin and showed us some local color.
Meanwhile, our Olympic correspondents dished about China's phony free-speech zones and the wild rumors sweeping the country. Noam explained why Obama's Olympic ad buy is sheer genius, and Josh Patashnik mourned the expulsion of Iraq's Olympic team.
And Serb warlord Radovan Karadzic's capture prompted a look back at our past Balkans coverage, plus a meditation on the value of American power.
--Barron YoungSmith