The American people have spoken and Barack Obama, their new president-elect has been given a national mandate. However, now that the euphoria of the win has died down, the placards tossed into the trash bins and the confetti swept up, it is time for a reality check.

Never in living memory has the nation been in such a deplorable state. With a staggering national deficit edging towards a trillion dollars, unemployment soaring to a fourteen-year high and a costly, drawn-out, seemingly unwinnable war being fought on two fronts, the next president of the United States will have his hands full. The question is: can Barack Obama handle it? For that matter, could anyone handle it?

In his first press conference after victory at the polls, Mr. Obama announced that he would make the ailing national economy his first priority. Foremost among his remedies for the crisis, which he has called the "greatest economic challenge of our lifetime", is an economic stimulus package. This package would immediately inject $75 billion into the economy in the form of tax cuts and direct spending targeted to working families, seniors, homeowners and the unemployed.

The plan also includes a further $45 billion in reserves that can be swiftly injected into the economy if it continues to deteriorate. The economic stimulus package is designed for one specific purpose - to jumpstart the economy. If successful, it is only a short-term remedy.

Mr. Obama has not yet offered a viable detailed plan towards lowering the national debt.

To the contrary, the US Tax Policy Center has announced that his proposals to lower taxes would result in boosting the national debt to the tune of some $3.5 trillion by 2018.

However, if Obama's stimulus plan works and the economy picks up; if Americans begin to prosper, set their fears aside and once again, open their pocketbooks; if the future president manages to lower government spending by disentangling the country from two wars and finally, if Nature refrains from wreaking further costly damage on the economy in the form of hurricanes, tornados and so forth, the plan might work.

The only problem is that the president-elect's plan is contingent upon a great number of 'ifs'. And it fails to factor in the dilemma posed by the soon-retiring baby boomers, who will pose a tremendous drain on government funds.

On the other hand, the team that Obama is putting together to address the economic crisis includes some of finest financial minds in the United States - indeed, in the world - today. The members of his newly-created Transitionary Economic Advisory Board (TEAB) include: former Treasury secretary Lawrence Summers, former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker and billionaire investor, Warren Buffett along with the chief executives of Google and Xerox. So who knows? Maybe the plan will work.

However, the economic crisis isn't the only maelstrom facing the incoming president. Another top concern is the War on Terror. This costly and highly unpopular conflict, which is being fought on two fronts - Iraq and Afghanistan - is in danger of expanding still further. US raids in both Syria and Pakistan have angered the leaders and populations of the two countries. The situation is a sticky one, at best, and will necessitate some fence-mending on the part of the new US president if he wants to contain the war on terror. And then there is still the problem of the two fronts - what to do.

Obama advocates ending the war in Iraq, pulling out the US troops deployed there and sending them instead to Afghanistan.
Obama's reasoning is based on the belief that Afghanistan, not Iraq, should be the centerpiece for the war on terror and "this war (the war on terror) is a war we have to win". That is all well and good, but there is one problem that the future president has not addressed - most likely, because he has been unable to address it. The US-British-led invasion of Iraq and the NATO-led invasion of Afghanistan shattered the economies and infrastructures of both countries, leaving them in shambles. Without comprehensive, economic aid packages, both will remain breeding grounds for terrorists because desperate conditions lead to extremist views and desperate measures. Yet, the US economy is, at present, in such dire straits, Washington can ill afford foreign aid. Thus, the War on Terror has become a veritable 'Catch-22'.

Earlier in this article it was mentioned that one of Obama's first moves must be mending fences with Syria and Pakistan. But those aren't the only two countries, with which the new White House occupant must repair ties. Eight years of Bush neocon rule have devastated Washington's relations with a number of countries. For example, those with Moscow have, in the past months, been reduced nearly to a Cold War footing. Other countries, which have been alienated in recent years, due to neocon diplomatic gaffes include a number of Central and South American states, such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua. Then there are the long-standing enmities, which need to be set aside, such as those for Cuba and Iran. Such countries need to be approached in order to find common grounds in order to reach understandings.

In fact, Obama may very well discover that he has to mend ties with a number of former US allies. The United States' reputation has suffered so greatly during the past eight years, it might be necessary to make friendly or conciliatory overtures towards a number of countries in order to reinstate America's former standing within the international community.

The bottom line is that Barack Obama has promised change and when the American people went to the polls, they clearly showed that they were in favor of change, as well. However, the issues facing the president-elect are so serious and the conditions so extraordinary, he will have a long and rocky road to travel in order to deliver his campaign promises.

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