Like Abe and FDR, Obama faces crises

[Pirate Smile]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON – All presidents are tested. Few walk into the Oval Office when the nation is in the throes of multiple crises.
Like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President-elect Obama is facing a banking emergency.

Like Abraham Lincoln, Obama is trying to patch up national divisions. To ready himself for the job, Obama said Friday he is reading some writings by Lincoln, "who's always an extraordinary inspiration."

And like Richard Nixon, George W. Bush and others, Obama will be commander in chief over U.S. troops in combat.
"With two wars and an economic crisis, this is one step away from what Lincoln or FDR faced," said Terry Sullivan, associate professor of political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "The question is `Which direction is the nation going to go?'"

While the challenges Obama faces are daunting, they also give him the opportunity to shape history in a big way.
"My 88-year-old mother asks me regularly, `Why would anybody want to be president now?' said Sullivan, who manages the Presidential Transition Project at Rice University. "My answer is 'Every one of them wants to be FDR.' This is their chance. What makes fame in the American presidency is a great challenge and succeeding." Or, Sullivan added, facing a great challenge and failing.

In fewer than 11 weeks, Obama will inherit not just the economic crisis and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also the ongoing threat of a terrorist attack, a resurgent Russia and nuclear proliferation in hot spots across the globe.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081108/ap_on_go_pr_wh/presidents_in_crises_2;_ylt=AlbroiWZtsx.sn5s.wtOeE0Sq594

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Which Is Why He'll Move Left

Because leftist policies are the only way out of this mess - and he's smart enough to know this.

[fascisthunter]

3. I Really Hope So

[JDwho]

2. I cannot comprehend the pressure he must feel,

but I don't think he'll go extremely left. This is why:
He has made some bold exchanges with the Pres. of Russia, already. Pres. elect Obama has determined that a missile shield will be in a position in which it could be used in defense against Russia; although he, and other officials have promised Russia that the shield is coordinated to point toward Iran in anticipation of their insanity. Medevedev takes this as a move of aggression and is thus putting missiles in strategically placed positions, not trusting what Obama has told him. Hopefully, Obama can have a reasonable discussion with him. I'm not sure I believe Medevedev, when he says he'll wait until Jan. 20, to make any move of a more serious nature.