Welcome to Smart Takes, a daily feature that we'd like to try out on Passport. Every morning, we'll scour the Internet for five excellent editorials or other items and post them here by lunchtime, ET. Have a read and feel free to suggest other "smart takes" in comments.

"Reactions of the Wall Street Slump" The Economist. Published in 1929. The Economist proves that if you dig back far enough in the archives, you might just come full circle. 

"Finance Crisis: In Graphics" BBC News. Depressingly correct charts on the credit crisis and its growing fallout.

Chandran Nair: "Obama: the change Asia needs?" The Financial Times. It's an open secret: The "rest of the world" is rooting for the Democrats -- but the bar has been set low, and what might follow would be a true game of limbo indeed.

Yossi Alpher: "Israel should get to know Hamas a bit better." The Daily Star (Beruit). Hamas is in Gaza to stay, and Israel, argues Alpher, would do well to start befriending its new neighbor. No one is baking cookies yet. 

Zapiro cartoon: The Mail and Guardian (South Africa). South Africa's Thabo Mbeki contemplates his legacy while enemies wait at the gallows.