In a major boost for Democratic Barack Obama's [Images] White House bid, an influential liberal newspaper on Friday endorsed the black American Senator as the 'right man at a perilous moment' for the crisis-hit nation.

Coverage: The Race to the White House

'The choice is made easy in part by Mr McCain's disappointing campaign. It is made easy in larger part, though, because of our admiration for Mr Obama and the impressive qualities he has shown during this long race,' The Washington Post opined in its editorial.

Pinning hope on Obama in leading the US to sail through the ongoing economic slump, the paper says, 'Mr Obama has the potential to become a great president. Given the enormous problems he would confront from his first day in office, and the damage wrought over the past eight years, we would settle for very good.'

Drawing a parallel between McCain's and Obama's leadership the editorial states, 'Mr McCain has deep knowledge and a longstanding commitment to promoting US leadership. But Mr Obama too, is committed to maintaining US leadership'.

'We hope he would navigate between the amoral realism and the counterproductive cock sureness of the current administration,' it added.

The endorsement by The Washington Post comes at a time when the Democratic nominee is seen in many national polls as the clear favourite  even if some surveys are showing the election race tightening up to the point that the Illinois freshman Senator is ahead of his seasoned Senate veteran Senator John McCain [Images] by only two points.