Obama Inherits Mountain of Problems

Barack Obama becomes crisis manager is his own country who will also have his hands full with complex foreign policy.

In 76 days, the newly elected President Obama will enter the oval office. In reality it is a bit smaller than you would think as a T.V. viewer. But the oval form and the doors to the garden give the office something serene.

A comfortable place for an uneasy reality. The new president inherits a mountain of problems that is much larger than what most of his predecessors had to face: an economic recession, two wars and a record budget deficit. Only Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945), who took the office during the Great Depression, experienced something similar.

The economic numbers are so bad now, that crisis management is needed. How much aid needs to go to Detroit to save the car factories? How can the consumer strike be broken that threatens to make a recession into a depression? The low point of the credit crisis might be behind us on January 20, but the consequences will last for years.

Oh yes, and the promises. On his campaign through the country, the president-elect has told a simple story about good and evil, a caricature of reality. Not wanting to lose a vote, he did not discuss the tough choices that are now inevitable. He has promised tax reduction and help to many. He did not tell that Medicare and social security will soon be unaffordable.

Foreign politics does not provide any comfort either. The Iraq war now does not belong to George W. Bush anymore, but to his successor Obama. How to pull back without leaving behind chaos and only fortify Iran? Even harder is Afghanistan. Does America need to negotiate with the Taliban? Send more troops to a war that might not be won?

In Iran, the new president might quickly be faced with a tough choice: allow the country to develop into a nuclear power, or approve of an Israeli attack. During the campaign, Russia invaded Georgia. With the Olympic Games, China emphasized that it is a superpower-in-process. The world waits for American leadership in the energy and climate crisis.

Why would someone want to become president at this particular moment?

“Is there a sense that you don’t want this?” said satirist Jon Stewart to Obama. “That you may look at the country and think, ‘You know, when I thought I was going to get this it was a relatively new car. Now look at it!”

“I actually think this is the time to want to be president,” Obama said.

Why? Because he can have ‘impact’. It becomes possible to head in a truly new direction in the areas of energy, education and health care.

“I think people are gonna be more open to change,” Obama said.

Every crisis offers a change for renewal, like Roosevelt showed in his day. That is the bright light for the new president.