Barack Obama's First 100 Days

Massive Challenges Await President Barack Obama

As the clock counts down to his inauguration, President-elect Barack Obama faces one of the greatest set of crises to ever face a new President. Perhaps not since the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt has a new President been forced to come to terms with such a heavy load of national and international issues.

The entire world is sliding into a recession - dare we say depression - the likes of which has not been seen since 1932. Nations small and large are experiencing massive numbers of their citizens clamoring for a chance to make enough to eat and feed their families. The number of Americans looking for a job is approaching ten percent of the workforce, and may actually exceed that number, considering the numbers who have become shut out and shut off from unemployment benefits, and are no longer part of the official statistics.

Banks and other financial institutions are failing all over the world. An entire nation teeters on the brink of bankruptcy, with Iceland frantically seeking a way to bolster its currency from total collapse. And the banks are, once again, to blame for their own demise, by taking on reckless lending habits and engaging in securitizing debt obligations. Instead of the collapse of the stock market, their practices have led to the collapse of the real estate market, throwing 100s of thousand onto the streets as they rapaciously foreclose on millions of homes.

Again, the number of people being put on the street has not been rivaled since the Great Depression.

The nation is on a wartime footing, and the saber rattling going on in a particularly unstable part of the world where massive numbers of US troops are stationed should give us all a pause, as we consider that our national defense capability. Our ability to respond to issues in our homeland have been seriously compromised by the deployment of our National Guard overseas, instead of fulfilling the purpose of those militias - to protect us here.