Obama and the Ballooning US Debt

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Obama and the Ballooning US Debt

By Gabor Steingart

By some estimates the total cost of Barack Obama's campaign promises could come to $2 trillion. The new president will have to disappoint many of his voters -- or resign himself to an enormous government deficit.

Barack Obama has avoided the public since he was elected the 44th president of the United States. But the public has not been equally reticent. In fact, it both seeks and finds him.

A so-called protective pool, consisting of journalists from a wide range of publications, follows the new president-elect around the clock. The dispatches filed by these reporters, whose lives currently alternate between rushing around and spending hours waiting, read like excerpts from an espionage report. They write about the most mundane aspects of his life, including when he goes to the gym, how many hours he spends in his Chicago office and which restaurants he and his wife Michelle frequent

But the journalists' detective work isn't exactly fruitful. On Tuesday, someone reported: "The pool is unable to get a clear look at him." On Wednesday, the frustration continued: "The pool cannot see him getting into his car." On Thursday: "The pool can only get a fleeting look at Obama." And then, on Thursday evening: "Shortly after Obama left the underground parking garage, he was followed by another, unidentifiable motorcade."

The reason for the new political star's public reserve is obvious: The Democrats are busy with their own affairs. Forming a new government is a delicate and complicated business.

A tough and probably dramatic wrangling over the priorities of Obama's presidency, which begins on Jan. 20, 2009, is taking place behind the closed doors of the president-elect's headquarters in downtown Chicago. In light of the tense financial situation, both in the country and in the government's budget, the foundation is already being laid, at this early stage, for the young president's long-term success or early failure.

Full story, source: Der Spiegel