Amount of work to pick up from Bush administration may turn out to be excessive

By Ryan Catanese

A ticker in Times Square is being replaced.

It’s not broken, and there hasn’t been a recent breakthrough in ticker technology that has rendered it obsolete. The ticker works perfectly, but it must be replaced because it’s simply not big enough.

The ticker counts the nation’s debt, and it has run out of space on which to display the current number.

It’s no secret that the economy is in trouble. To put it in perspective, picture this: Remember Wile E. Coyote?

The two could be more similar than you think

In the cartoon, the Roadrunner would often dupe his nemesis, Wile E. Coyote, into running off the side of a cliff. Coyote would float in midair for a few seconds, still running, until he realized he was no longer on the ground. Then, he would look down and plummet into the rocky gorge below.

After a couple years of running in midair, our economy finally looked down. It has been in a freefall ever since, leaving the anxious public with no choice but to wait until it hits rock bottom.

While the economy is currently the most-discussed issue facing the country, it isn’t the only one.

Remember the space plan?

Many citizens don’t, considering the other, more pressing matters that were happening at the same time, like the war in Iraq and a budding presidential race.

In January 2004, President Bush promised to revamp the NASA space exploration program and get an American back on the moon by 2020. It was supposed to be a monumental announcement, a throwback to Kennedy’s era. It was instead drowned out by the clutter.

Just days after Bush’s announcement, the news was dominated by Howard Dean’s infamous scream. Within two weeks, sports took the national spotlight as New England Patriot fans celebrated a Super Bowl win.

The plan, which was intended to catapult America back into the top position as a global leader in science and technology, will cost the country about $12 billion by 2009.

This is just one of Bush’s promised long-term plans, the completion of which will fall squarely on the shoulders of America’s next commander-in-chief.  Others include a complete reworking of the No Child Left Behind program and an overhaul of Social Security, the economy and possibly the healthcare system.

These projects, which have the potential to cost billions of dollars, will be difficult to complete with the  economy in its current state. The deficit is over $10 trillion, a 14-digit number.

The campaigning will end on November 4, but the work will only just begin. That date is not the finish line, but the starting point.

It could take four years, it will probably take closer to 40.

It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it.