Careful What You Wish For

Many challenges await the next US president, and all demand immediate fixes, report a team of reporters for Newsweek. Candidates make promises about 12 million illegal immigrants, with 500,000 more entering every year; a strained health care system that is unaffordable for the millions of uninsured; an overextended military in Iraq and Afghanistan; record oil prices; a battered economy; global warming; and probably other problems yet unknown. Inheriting massive debt, the US president will lack funds to tackle all issues and must convince Americans to undertake sacrifice. The global community, also affected by US foreign policy, also has high expectations for the US president. The two major parties offer voters distinct choices, but the problems pose political difficulties for any leader, and the Newsweek report warns onlookers to expect internal differences to emerge within the next administration. – YaleGlobal

Careful What You Wish For

Getting elected may be the easy part; a sluggish economy, an ailing health-care system, and immigration mess – the next president's got issues
Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Click here for the original article on Newsweek.

Jamie Reno, Sarah Kliff, Arian Campo-Flores, Michael Hirsh, Daniel Gross, Jennifer Barrett and Jerry Adler contributed to this report.

© Newsweek