The election of Barack Obama was an unprecedented phenomenal occurrence in US political landscape when history did not repeat itself.

There were endless commentaries addressing Obama’s vision for tackling the current economic mess inherited from his predecessor, George W. Bush. Let us first recap today’s dismal market and economic uncertainties in the light of the Bush Administration’s recent decisions and contemplate the possible courses of action considered by the new president-elect. All the eggheads and government wonks in Washington have underestimated, and sometimes ignored, the growing economic pains that persisted over the past several months.

In response, a plan has emerged for the government to take hundreds of billion of dollars in distressed mortgages and other assets off the hands of banks and other financial institutions.

The consequences were, as we all know by now, that government actions were too little and too late to stem a debt crisis that reverberated throughout the world.

Ironically, since the credit crisis erupted onto the global scene about 14 months ago, each new government countermeasure seemed to have backfired: They have encouraged imprudent inaction and, in my opinion, promoted a sense of irrational complacency leading to the prospects of an economic calamity that was far worse than anticipated.

Paradoxically, President Bush seemed somehow remarkably unaffected and detached from the realities and consequences of this dire economic situation evident by his periodical speeches in response to the situation and, of course, the markets reacted accordingly.

He leaves the presidency in a couple of weeks with fundamentally a bear market and an economy that’s coming unglued at the seams, a debt collapse that has barely began, the worst federal deficit of all times, and shaky confidence in US leadership role in the world.

A new president has been elected ... enters Barack Obama!

I often wondered: What would the election of Barack Obama mean to Americans and to the world? A sense of relief can be felt with hope, especially among overseas investors, that the US new president-elect can somehow change the dire economic realities of our time and avert a possibly deeper global recession.

There are, however, much greater serious challenges to Obama as, in addition to the state of the economy, he needs to transform his campaign promises to Americans on taxes, health care, energy and education into a set of legislative priorities for his first two years in office.

One of Barack Obama’s top priorities should be to reassert America’s role in the world and re-assume financial leadership from its current doldrums. This will, of course, be accomplished concomitantly with the implementation of reasonable and effective economic policies to recover the US from its stagnant state of vitality and growth.

Rising Democratic power in Washington will play a major role in providing the new president whatever support needed to pass laws for tighter financial regulations, increased social spending and more labor-friendly policies amid a more challenging climate for business. In addition, I believe there will be more regulation in health care, energy and other areas spelled out during the election campaign.

President-elect Obama has been given a mandate and a compliant Congress. He is expected, without a doubt, to bring to his new Administration the best and the brightest minds in an attempt to address overwhelming obstacles to improving or even surviving the challenges the US and the world face. Is this going to be good enough to turn-around the situation? Too soon to tell!

One thing for sure, Barack Obama will not sit on his hands until January 2009. It’s going to be an excruciatingly slow recovery in these terrible period of stagnation for investors, with the economy burdened by high energy prices, high inflation, rising unemployment and slow growth.

The victory of Barak Obama offers hope — of historic proportion for Americans and indeed the world — for economic recovery. This is the most urgent task before the president-elect, the only thing that matters now, is the future.