Most of the world's attention is riveted by the war in Gaza, the raw sights and sounds of which are brought home most vividly by the coverage provided by Al Jazeera's English and Arabic channels.
Here in the US however, the Gaza story is seldom the lead on the major evening news programmes.
The mainstream media is too squeamish to show the reality of war - the blood, the pain, the screaming children.
And US cable networks and satellite systems seem afraid to allow Al Jazeera English into their lineup of channels, quailing at the prospect of a political backlash from far right-wing, self-appointed media "watchdogs" who caricature Al Jazeera as "terror TV".
The preoccupation here in the US is much closer to home: The economic crisis.
'Lingering' recession
With just a few days to go before Barack Obama takes over the White House and Americans bid George Bush a not-so-fond farewell, the president-elect has been outlining his economic recovery plans.
Attacking the growing economic crisis will be the prime objective of Obama's first 100 days in office.
He outlined the economic rescue package he says will create three million jobs, saying it will not be "just another public works programme".
"We'll invest in priorities like energy and education; healthcare and a new infrastructure that are necessary to keep us strong and competitive in the 21st century," Obama said. Obama said this plan will be costly - adding to deficits that will top a trillion dollars.
The total price tag on the package is still unknown - but will certainly be close to a trillion dollars itself. Also in question: Whether such an epic amount can be spent effectively without equally huge waste and mismanagement.
Obama also vowed to undertake a fundamental reform of the freewheeling, hands-off ethos of Wall Street and the anything-goes style of US capitalism. "No longer can we allow Wall Street wrongdoers to slip through regulatory cracks," he vowed.
"No longer can we allow special interests to put their thumbs on the economic scales."
Obama said that congress must work day and night to pass the measure quickly, and Nancy Pelosi, Democratic speaker for the house of representatives, predicted passage by mid-February, promising: "We will not go home until we have an economic reform package." Now, if only the US government would use some of its power to bear on forging a halt to the bloodshed in Gaza.
Obama's silence
Bush, as is his custom, sees the issue in black-and-white terms, with no shades of grey.
He has blamed the entire situation squarely and solely on Hamas, admitting no fault whatsoever on the Israeli side.
And while Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, claims to be working "day and night" to establish a ceasefire, it is quite clear that the Bush administration has given Israel broad latitude to smash Hamas - no matter what the cost in civilian lives.
So far, Obama has largely kept quiet, saying the US could not appear to speak with more than one voice on foreign policy.
He did offer some tepid words of concern for the unfolding humanitarian disaster in Gaza, saying the loss of civilian life in Gaza and in Israel was a source of "deep concern".
By mostly avoiding comment, or by making bland expressions of concern about civilian deaths, Obama is playing a political game: remaining careful not to upset Israel and its many powerful supporters in and out of the US congress, while at the same time giving hope to Arabs who are desperately anxious that Obama will usher in a new chapter in US policy toward the Middle East.
Obama says he will have much more to say about the situation after he takes office January 20 - but by then many more lives may have been lost in the war on Gaza.
Presidential meeting
The new US congress that took its seats on Tuesday includes many enthusiastic supporters of Israel but few members - other than Keith Ellison, the Muslim congressman from Minnesota, and Dennis Kucinich, the Ohio congressman - are willing to speak up for the Palestinians.
On Wednesday, Obama had lunch with all the living presidents at the White House.
Looking at the roomful of grinning leaders past, present and future seemed to me symbolic of the twists, turns and dead ends of four decades of American Middle East policy.
There was the aged Jimmy Carter, who brokered the Camp David accord between Egypt and Israel and has more recently spoken out strongly on behalf of the Palestinians, but whose mishandling of the Islamic Revolution in Iran ushered in nearly 30 years of wasteful hostility between two great nations.
Standing next to Carter was Bill Clinton, who orchestrated the famous Rose Garden handshake between Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin, sealing the peace agreements of the Oslo process, but who fell short in a later push for a final settlement, and whose final months in office saw the beginning of the second intifada, or uprising, in the Palestinian territories.
Smiling by Obama's right stood George Bush the father, who launched the Madrid peace talks and tried to pressure Israel to stop settlement building on Palestinian land.
'Elusive' peace
And to his left was Bush the son, who gave Israel a free hand to strike the Palestinian territories and Lebanon, and virtually ignored the peace process till his final year in office and whose Annapolis "process" now seems nothing better than a cruel joke. Bush welcomed the newest member of their select club, telling Obama: "All of us who have served in this office understand that the office itself transcends the individual.
"We wish you all the very best and so does the country."
While Obama says he is a strong friend of Israel - during last year's election campaign many American Jews were dubious about whether Obama would protect Israel - doubts he tried to assuage by fervent declarations of unconditional support.
Now, while Gaza burns, he promises to get involved in another round of Middle East peacemaking once he is sworn-in on January 20.
"I am doing everything that we have to do to make sure that the day that I take office we are prepared to engage immediately in trying to deal with the situation there," he said at a news conference.
"Not only the short-term situation, but building a process whereby we can achieve a more lasting peace in the region."
Peace in the Middle East - the same pledge, the same elusive goal, that has pre-occupied a roomful of presidents - now, being passed on to a new one.
Source: Al Jazeera
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