Obama: Can he live up to expectations?

Barack Obama faces enormous challenges when he steps into the White House. Is the country expecting too much too soon?

The crowds started gathering near the Hay-Adams Hotel in Washington, D.C., on Sunday morning, hoping for a glimpse of the man they expect to be the nation’s savior. The people peering over the security barriers knew they couldn’t hope for more than a glimpse of Barack Obama, who’d moved his family into the hotel to get his daughters started at their new school. Yet the crowds came anyway, said Noam Levey in the Los Angeles Times, because they regard the 47-year-old president-elect with something approaching awe. “It’s hard to believe things will change right away,” said Hallie Baker, a 23-year-old university student. “But this is our best chance. My hope is still there.” Rarely in recent memory has a president entered office with higher expectations, said Dan Thomasson in The Washington Times. Following “the foreign and domestic woes of the last eight years,” the public’s regard for Obama has reached “near adulation.” Sixty-seven percent of Americans approve of him and 75 percent think he’ll somehow get the badly damaged economy back on track. For the moment, Obama can do no wrong. “But how long will this euphoria last?”

Probably not long, said Howard Fineman in Newsweek. The challenges facing Obama are staggering. A year after this recession began, our economy is still headed downward, with experts warning that unemployment may surpass 10 percent. Abroad, Obama will need to address the Gaza conflict, heightened tensions between Pakistan and India, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Obama and his aides are determined to send a jolt of electricity through Washington, but the realities get more immobilizing by the minute.”

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