Now for the Governing

I think President Obama will face these challenges and do very well. If he uses common sense and knows that "A president does not a government make", he will excel. A few things need to change: Stop refering to him as "African-American". The President of the US should be first and Only American. Second, Affirmative Action can now go away. His election proves its not necessary anymore. Congratulations to the country for being colorblind.

Build up the middle class with good paying jobs and stop or slow the outsourcing and relocation of jobs overseas.
Immigration issue for undocument is a big and #1 causes for this economics problems too, undocument can???t work so they don???t spend, congress need to past some thing fast for all the people to get their right that here before 911and have family connection with us born children and have good American values.
Everyone should have full health Insurance
Education for all and have special learning place for the disabilities
Create jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. and have jobs for our young people part time work 14-18 years
Cut out all unnecessary spending.
End the costly war and bring our troops home.
When the economy turns around slowly start to raise taxes on the ones who benefited the most from the big tax cuts that caused the national debt to balloon the way it did.
Give tax cuts only to companies that create jobs at home.
Balance the budget and pay down the national debt. No more irresponsible supply side or trickle down economics. Build from the ground up and the money will trickle up.
Put some regulations on Wall Street. Totally unregulated capitalism doesn't mean a great economy.
Have better relations with the rest of the world and restore their trust and respect in us.
Cut spending. Or better yet and in addition to, maybe follow McCain's proposal and temporarily freeze as much spending as possible (we can't exactly freeze it all)

Then do something to encourage Congress to make the US more business friendly and KEEP doing something until Congress realizes that having the second highest corporate tax rate in the world doesn't keep business and jobs HERE.

After that maybe he can get a clue and realize that true job creation is best left to the private sector.
I think the top issue should be War/Economy. You CANNOT separate the two the way the polls on T.V. want you to think. The war has cost us plenty of money we don't have. Not being in war will stabilize the world and the economy of the world a lot more then it is now. Rattling sabers only gets peoplenervous and it is reflected in the markets. Prices rise and fall dramatically on everyday needs because of speculative shortages because of this saber rattling. Money that is spent on the war can be used in other more important
areas. I didn't vote for Obama, but I have to laugh when I read on these message boards that Obama is going to raise taxes. Obama can't raise taxes high enough to equal what has already been taken by Wall Street, the federal reserve and this government.

Although HK people like me do not have right to elect its Chief (esp. the President of US), I am heavily touched by American elected Obama to let the world to see the best beauty in American (both Black & White.) Bringing hope to the world not only because US still remains the largest economy unit so that US has hope to bring confidence to its economy and eventually the world, but most importantly your elected President does bring hope in equality. We all need peace and military is supposed to exercise justice, not to aim war.

Although HK people like me do not have right to elect its Chief (esp. the President of US), I am heavily touched by American elected Obama to let the world to see the best beauty in US. Bringing hope to the world not only because US still remains the largest economy country so that US has hope to strengthen its economy and eventually the world, but most importantly your elected President does bring hope to peace. We all need peace and military is supposed to exercise justice, not a tool or aim for war.

I don't think the world is expecting Obama to fix all global problems, but I will agree there are high expectations for him. There is no denying that either president McCain or Obama will go into the white house with a mop and bucket............................................

Obama . like many of us. is a multi- racial man dont forget. This is the way of the world now. We need to move forward and stop the negativity and work together to bring the change this country needs. Sure we could comlain and keep bickering and the same old narrow minded things. Whay would be the result? more of the same over and over again. Fiorget the media..we all no they are propaganda. Mc Cain has his skeletons as well as Obam but so do we all. We need to pushthe past aside and live for the future of our children and our world..

none of the global pressures were listed here, the rest of the world wanted obama to be president only because he isnt a christian like the rest of past presidents and that is supposedly the reason that the U. S. is hated so much, but now he's got to realize that the rest of world expects him to fix all global problems as well from the world wide econimical problems to genocide in africa, the world wants obma to fix it, and no one country can do that, especially with an inexperienced and scared leader such as obama.

Here we go with the evil undertones for having a diffrent belief. This is what is wrong with politics today.people do not even know the diffrence between the parties.Obama has been preaching change for 2 years bringing in a new type of government two days in and he goes about hiring clintons old (corrupt) staff. wow knock me over with that change.

richie15kk: The point of voting is to vote for someone with whom you have similar beliefs. Anytime respect or money is more important than lives, there is a serious issues with morality. You are correct about judgement, but the sanctity of marriage was created by God between a man and a woman. I think gays should have equal rights, but not marriage. If someone doesnt want to live under God or God's rules, why would they want to enter into marriage that was created by God. I respect you and I respect your opinion, but what is holding our country back is the absence of Christ.

Its only been a couple of days and already obama re-cants . what happened to the 2 years of preaching change and new government.contridicting when he sets about hiring all clintons staff.As for the comment on leaving this country if you are not happy you are foolish just like you we have the right to disagree without being told to leave the country our middle-class republican dollars are what makes this country run and also pay mind to your comment about the wars our forefathers fought to give us these rights you are correct so whats the diffrence with the current war.are they not insuing our freedoms as well. welcome to the new era of politics- hypocrits

In theory... you can't please all of the people all of the time. That said, let's be grateful that the president elect has illustrated more competence than his fallen rival. I would encourage critics to rethink their stance, set aside the criticism and discriminative remarks and give Obama a chance; he has many obstacles in his path but so far has managed to hurdle them gracefully. In reality, it is impossible to expect that everyone will be 100% satisfied with the outcome... there will always be the "what if's... and ...but's..." from those who chose to remain narrow-minded.

Not that I want to ride the negativity train that seems to be rolling through this post, but after reading the post by angel_53 I would have to say that ignorance is certainly the fuel for that train. In my opinion you have to look at the bigger picture. This election proves two things about this country that have been clouded by recent elections and political scandals, and that is this; anyone can become the President of the United States if they work hard enough and aim high enough, second, we "The American People" are the ones who decide who gets elected and who does not. Obama might have won by a small margin in percentage points, but those percentage points amount to millions of voters. I think that both parties made mistakes, and both parties made good points, and in the end the majority was heard. Be proud that we live in a country where we can exercise this process, and if you???re not proud to live and be a part of this country, then move to a country you can be proud of. Again, this is my opinion, you have the right (which was afforded to you by the men and women who fought and died to ensure you have them) to do two things, you can either revel in negativity and be a part of the problem bringing the spirit of this country down; or you can stand up for what you believe in, even if it goes against the electoral majority, and do everything you can do to change the way things are being done. As I see it 52% did just that, I hope that the other 48% don't give up because they were defeated this time, I hope they continue to stand up and fight for what they believe in. Also if you did not vote in this election and had the opportunity to do so, it is my opinion that you really should look at your own fundamentals before questioning or complaining about the fundamentals of others.

I am tired of hearing all these Christian freaks that refuse to vote for someone because they might not have the same beliefs as they do. This country is no longer respected by the rest of the world, we are no longer the powerhouse economy, we are wasting billions of dollars a month in Iraq when they have money to spend, and the terrorist group that attacked us is stronger now more than ever, and you want to talk about abortion, and gay marriage ? close minds like this is what is holding this country back...... Do not force your beliefs onto someone else, God will judge them not you. You do not have the right to take away someone else's right. It's called Love thy Neighbor, right ? Not, love thy neighbor (then in small print) under certain conditions and limitations................ Practice what you preach.