As President, McCain or Obama Will Face Significant National Security Threats

The next president will face challenges in dealing with Iran, Pakistan, North Korea, al Qaeda, and anti-American sentiment around the world.

A more fundamental challenge could be a growing sense that America's global pre-eminence is being threatened by the rise of new economic and political centers in Asia and elsewhere. "Even if we have a serious policy to fight greenhouse gas emissions and close Guantánamo, are countries going to start lining up behind the United States again, or has too much water passed under the bridge?" Kupchan wonders, adding that Washington could find its influence waning even on issues like containing Iran and North Korea. "The United States in 2009, even if it does recover respect abroad, will nonetheless have a more difficult time getting its way simply because of a diffusion of political and material power to rising states like China and India."