Whie the leaders here have changed, the key nightmare the US faces remains the same: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict erupting into a war with WMD.
The constant turmoil in the middle east; the large defense expenditures; the terrorist threat.

The gorilla in the room.

Some member of the press really need to pin Pelosi and Emanuel and ask them what they intend to do to resolve this conflict. But our Major media fail us.

And make no mistake: Democratic leadership control is the key issue now, and the one they are following most closely. Its a case of spin.

That's in addition to an economy whose weakening has been hidden by massive borrowing, an infrastructure whose maintenance and improvement have been delayed, and an education system which is lacking, a health care delivery system that is failing, while the popluation ages.

The problems facing this nation remain the same.
Why those who ran for office wanted the jobs is another question.

Perhaps it may have to do with their family situations, and how many brothers and sisters they had. Maybe it had to do with parents, famly leadership roles, or family failures.

Welcome to Washington.
E.P.

PS - at least the impact hazard has now been handled with the Brown Amendment, and Adminstrator Griffin will report to the new congress on Feb 28.
I think that it is always true that the job you end up with is different than the one you thought you applied for.