The 44th President of the US will face a battery of challenges

When the 44th President of the United States starts work on January 20th, 2009, he will face such a daunting "to do" list, he may wonder why he ran for the office in the first place.

Analysts say you have to go back to the Great Depression and the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt to find a comparable situation.

Tom Whalen, is a professor of politics at Boston University.

SOUNDBITE: Tom Whalen, is a professor of politics at Boston University, saying (English):

"No president in recent memory has had the kind of challenges that with Mr. Obama or Mr. McCain will be facing, outside of (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) who had the greatest crisis of all,"

A meltdown in the US housing sector has set in motion what has now become a global financial crisis.

The new president will have to move quickly to try to restore confidence.

Republican Tony Blankley

SOUNDBITE: Republican Tony Blankley, saying (English):

"Almost certainly the first issue the next president is going to have to focus on will be the economy, and probably the state of the financial markets, which will probably not be able to to be back to normal by then. So that's got to be the first issue to address,"

And there are the wars. The next Commander in Chief will need to determine the size of the US military footprint in Iraq, and whether Iraq is stable enough to permit a more substantial withdrawal of U.S. troops.

In Afghanistan the question for the new president is how to defeat the resurgent Taliban and to prevent the spread of their influence in the region.

And then there are all those promises from the campaign trail, whether its tax cuts or expanded health care coverage,

Lanny Davis, worked in the Clinton White House.

SOUNDBITE: Lanny Davis, worked in the Clinton White House, saying (English):

"We have a $12 trillion national debt and an economic crisis greater than the Great Depression. The one mutually understood fact that nobody wants to talk about is that all the campaign promises are worth absolutely nothing in this particular crisis environment. They have to start all over again,"

Which in 2009 could bring new meaning to an old piece of political advice: be careful what you wish for.

Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters