I think I can say with some certainty that Obama will face more challenges from the moment he takes his oath than any other president. The most paramount of his challenges will be to fix the current economic crisis that has permeated and affected the entire globes. Lives have been drastically affected and broken by this economic downturn. I’m not just talking about people in the United States. I have sympathy for all those who lost their jobs or have received smaller bonuses/ pay cuts but there are so many people who have been shoved into starvation around the globe from this recession. Every economy in the world depends on the United States to function properly. Without a booming US economy, the whole world will continue to suffer and resent the US for their problems. This claim was materialized by Russian leaders blaming all of the world’s current financial problems on the US recession. Is there really a greater issue for our new president to deal with? Even military expenditures will have to be drastically cut unless more money turns up. That can’t happen when the taxpayers are suffering.
Now we are also less capable of using financial diplomacy as we have wielded in the past. We have offered financial incentive packages to both the North Koreans and the Iranians in exchange for their cooperation/relinquishment of nuclear programs. If the current trend continues, our financial bartering chip will be disabled. Let’s face it, at this point we need as many tools as possible. Money helps diplomacy in every sense of the word. You can’t be effective in diplomacy when funds are running short.
