These are troubled times calling for extraordinary leadership. Two weeks from Tuesday, voters will choose a new president and present him with a mandate to chart a course out of the economic crisis at home and rebuild this nation's tarnished image abroad.

It's a tall order, and we believe the person to lead those initiatives is U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, the Democrat from Illinois. He has campaigned long and hard on the need for changing the direction of the country. That's something we just don't see to the extent needed in his opponent, the venerable Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican.

Many factors were part of our thinking on this tough call between two compelling, yet different, candidates. But in the end, the decision to go with Obama and what we see as a more reasoned approach to handling difficult issues was tipped by a couple of things:

* McCain's ideas are not demonstrably different enough from the failed policies of President George W. Bush, particularly in foreign affairs and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. So, there's real reason to be leery of a McCain administration that could be too much of a replay of the past eight years of the Bush administration.

Obama offers a fresh start in everything from domestic issues and the economy to foreign relations, and we need that new perspective.

* Sarah Palin. The governor of Alaska took the national political scene by storm, and by surprise, when McCain picked her as his running mate. Palin has obvious appeal to the conservative wing of the Republican party, and her outspoken, folksy ways brought her a lot of attention for a while.

But her 15 minutes of fame in the national spotlight are over. On the campaign trail, we're not seeing the kind of substance, depth and breadth of experience that's necessary in someone a heartbeat away from the presidency.

Obama's pick, veteran Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, is head and shoulders above Palin. His years of experience and expertise in foreign affairs are strong complements to Obama.

Obama may be the least experienced of the two presidential candidates, but he has demonstrated the savvy, reasoned countenance and willingness to look at new ideas that are sorely needed in the White House. The nation has had enough of the shoot-from-the-hip policymaking that has seemed so much a part of the Bush II presidency.

In short, Obama/Biden is a much stronger ticket than McCain/Palin.

They'll have their work cut out for them handling the economy and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, clearly the two overarching issues of the day. Obama's economic plan is a springboard for dialogue on Congress: a windfall profits tax on excessive oil company profits, middle-income tax relief, increased trade, more jobs from all energy strategies, small business support and the nation's damaged housing and mortgage industry, to name a few.

Coupled with that is what he sees as a need for a strong energy policy that invests heavily in the development of alternate sources of energy such as wind, solar, clean coal, etc. Beyond those types of sources, we think Obama should also commit, as McCain has done, to offshore drilling for oil and more nuclear power plants.

The war in Iraq is a tremendous challenge for a new leader. What is at stake is not just our involvement there and in Afghanistan, but how we have come to be viewed in the world. It will be up to Obama, with Biden at his side and his critically important appointment of secretary of state, to regain our status as a leader in the world for democracy and human rights. On the latter point, while the Bush administration sanitized the use of torture against suspected terrorist detainees, Obama flat out rejects it as a betrayal of core American values.

Too many in the world community no longer view this country as a beacon of decency and democracy, thanks in large part to saber rattling and botched foreign policy initiatives in the last eight years. In endorsing Obama, we're saying we don't want that to continue for another four years.

Obama plans to put together a reasonable exit strategy for Iraq -- something lacking from the get-go with the Bush administration. At the same time, he repeatedly said during debates that Afghanistan is where the focus should be and that he will go after Osama bin Laden and "take him out" if given the opportunity.

McCain, a decorated Vietnam War hero, talks too much about "winning" the war in Iraq, when the focus should be on stabilizing the Iraqi government and security forces so they can stand on their own. A presence of U.S. troops, as we have in South Korea, is one thing, but America can't afford to continue indefinitely an armed conflict that carries a price tag of about $12 billion a month.

Change. It can be good if it has a solid plan for implementation. We think Obama has that plan and we would like to see him given the opportunity to turn things around in the four years ahead.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Sarah Jenkins, Bill Lee and Karen Troianello.