"A Huge Albatross"

Ken Silverstein interviews David Hendrickson, author of "blogbook" Cause for Depression: A pictorial guide to the financial crisis and a professor at Colorado College. Hendrickson's response to a question about how the financial crisis will affect Obama's administration:

There will be decisive constraints. They will be able to undertake new initiatives, but only ones directed towards savings and cutting programs to make them more cost-effective. Obama’s capacity to undertake major initiatives in programs like health care will be extremely limited. The economic crisis Obama is inheriting is like the first President Bush’s gift of Somalia to the Clinton administration. After the 1992 election, President Bush sent substantial forces to Somalia, which became an enormous headache for Clinton. It was a parting gift. Now multiply the headache by 100 times. It’s not an entirely apt analogy, but the Bush Administration’s response to the financial crisis is a huge albatross for Obama.