- Elaine Kamarck: In his second term, there are five immediate challenges for Obama
- She says he must find United States' footing in fragile Arab world
- Kamarck: He must reach a grand bargain with GOP to avoid fiscal cliff
- Kamarck: He must find way to deal with fractious Republican party; confront climate change
Editor's note: Elaine Kamarck is a lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She has worked in five Democratic presidential campaigns and in the Clinton/Gore White House and is the author of "Primary Politics: How Presidential Candidates have Shaped the Modern Nominating System".
(CNN) -- Now that the campaign is over and Barack Obama has won a second term, the hard business of governing begins again. There's a presidential inbox waiting and it's not too hard to figure out what's in it. Problems don't have Democrat or Republican stamped on them: they just are. So here are my top five issues facing the president.
Finding our footing in the new Arab world
Obviously this election was about the economy first, second and third. But the world intrudes. Our election campaign did not keep terrorists from killing American diplomats in Benghazi, nor did it stop the violence in Syria. When all the ballots are counted and the parks swept clean of the debris from election night rallies, President Obama will have to figure out what is happening in this very volatile part of the world and what, if anything, we do about it.
We intervened in Libya to get rid of an awful dictator, but so far we have not intervened to get rid of the awful dictator in Syria. As the violence escalates and the Syrian president wreaks ever more death and destruction on his people, will we be drawn into an intervention there too? After 9/11 we went to war with Iraq over a mistaken fear of nuclear weapons. Is Iran developing nuclear weapons or are we wrong to be concerned? Will we go to war with Iran too?
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Preventing the fiscal cliff
While President Obama has been crisscrossing the country looking for votes, the people left behind in Washington have been wringing their hands over the dangers posed to the fragile economic recovery by the severe combination of spending cuts and tax increases that are due to kick in on New Year's Eve. This so-called "fiscal cliff" was the result of politicians kicking the can down the road a few years ago. Will they do it again? Or will there be a grand bargain that actually puts the country on the path to smaller deficits?
There are plenty of plans on the shelf waiting, including those put together by the big deficit reduction commissions such as Simpson/Bowles and Rivlin/Domenici. And there's the plan almost put together by President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner. The problem isn't the lack of plans; it's the lack of courage. The outlines of any deal have been clear for some time now: Democrats have to give up some spending, especially on entitlements like Social Security and Medicare, and Republicans have to allow for some new taxes. Each side has to hold it's nose if a deal is to be done. Which brings me to the next issue facing President Obama:
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Dealing with the Republicans
Obama must figure out how to deal with a Republican Party in Congress that has become dysfunctional. In 2010 a relatively small group of voters calling themselves the Tea Party launched a surprise attack on the leadership of the Republican Party. Under President Bush, the Republican Party had gotten a little too fond of world domination and a little too dismissive of the party's traditional concern for fiscal discipline. Frankly, they deserved a trip to the woodshed.
But once their new majority in the House of Representatives was won, the leadership overreacted, and rather than forge a majority that could perhaps make some progress, they cowered before their new members like frightened children. The result? No progress. If the Republican leadership continues to tremble before their most radical members, the entire party risks a rightward slide off the face of the earth. And President Obama will have to figure out how to work around them.
Cutting a deal on tax reform
It's been 25 years since a Democratic Congress and President Reagan cleaned out the tax code and achieved lower rates and fewer loopholes. But tax loopholes grow back like dandelions in the garden. The current tax code is a mess. It rewards some sectors of the economy and not others. It distorts business decision-making and it makes sure that those who don't need it have plenty of tax deductions. It's time to weed that garden once again.
Romney concedes election Amazingly enough in this era of extreme polarization, both presidential candidates have expressed support for lowering the corporate tax rate to 25% and simplifying the corporate side of the code. It's possible that they could agree on the easy stuff on the corporate side and move to the harder stuff on the individual side. Tax reform will be part and parcel of a long-term deficit deal. Tax cuts for the oil and gas industry are a favorite target of President Obama, and they are just one example of many industry-specific tax breaks that might get swept up in a big tax deal.
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Climate change
And finally I come to the issue that was not mentioned in the presidential campaign: climate change. The Democrats' one attempt at climate change legislation died in 2010, a victim of the recession and also of the fear that confronting it would increase energy costs on a public still reeling from the meltdown. The failure of the climate bill began, however, the issue's long, slow slide into oblivion; a slide so complete that both candidates spent their debates falling all over themselves to prove they were friends of coal.
But coal is the big culprit in climate change, a fact conveniently ignored when the votes of Ohio are at stake. How fitting then, that in the very last week of the campaign, a gigantic hurricane would destroy the Jersey shore and close down lower Manhattan. The seas are rising after all; there is something happening after all. What, President Obama, are you going to do about it? The options are plentiful, from taxing carbon to pouring more money into green energy. They just haven't been very palatable. Maybe hurricane Sandy can change that.
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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Elaine Kamarck
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama embraced Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden moments after the election was called in their favor. 
Keesha Patterson, left, proposes to Rowan Ha during a rally at Obama headquarters in Chicago. The women live in Maryland, where voters approved same-sex marriage. 
Ajay Narayan cheered in Las Vegas, Nevada, as the election was called for President Obama. 
Obama supporters celebrated the president's projected victory at a watch party at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. 
A huge screen gave Obama supporters in Chicago plenty to cheer about: The president won a second term. 
President Barack Obama's supporters were exuberant as the news got better and better on election night. 
A dejected supporter of Republican candidate Mitt Romney slumped on the floor in Boston, Massachusetts. 
President Obama's young supporters in Chicago cheered and waved flags. 
The Empire State Building in New York City was lit in Democratic blue after President Obama won the hotly contested election. 
A Romney supporter teared up as the presidency seemed to slip out of grasp. 
Obama supporters in Chicago, his hometown, shared their joy at the president's projected victory. 
Obama supporters raised their hands in victory at an election night watch party in Chicago. 
Romney supporters in Boston were tearful and subdued as the numbers told a story they didn't want to hear. 
A Romney supporter's bowed head and slumped shoulders revealed that it wasn't going to be the Republicans' night. 
Big boards in Tampa reported results at an event sponsored by the Republican Party of Florida. 
Party-goers wearing 'Stars and Stripes' clothing await results at an election night party at the U.S. Embassy in London. 
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is seen sitting aboard his campaign plane Tuesday in Boston, Massachusetts. 
Voter Sheresa Walker uses a flashlight for poll worker Lloyd Edwards in a makeshift tent set up as a polling place at Scholars' Academy, PS 180, in Rockaway Park, a neighborhood in Queens, New York. The area is still reeling in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. 
Shadows are cast on a wall next to a television advertising "Election Night 2012" inside the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, where Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is scheduled to speak Tuesday evening. 
A volunteer prepares ballots at a polling station in San Francisco, California. 
Justin Stucki, Leah Quirk, and Kenady Pettingill, left to right, urge drivers to vote for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in Spanish Springs, Nevada. 
A sign directs voters to the gymnasium at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks with journalists Tuesday on a flight to Boston, Massachusetts -- the last flight of his presidential campaign. 
Raena Lamont, 3, wears a Captain America costume at a polling center Tuesday in Staten Island, New York. The polling station doubles as a donation site as Staten Island works to recover in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. 
A voter casts his ballot Tuesday in Mansfield, Texas. 
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney takes a break from last-minute campaigning to greet workers Tuesday in Richmond Heights, Ohio. 
A voter's bicycle leans against a wall at a lifeguard station, home to a polling place in Hermosa Beach, California. 
Voters walk past a plethora of campaign signs after casting their ballots at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Kansas City, Missouri. 
Jesse James, whose home was damaged by Superstorm Sandy, prepares to vote in a makeshift tent set up as a polling place in Rockaway Park, a neighborhood in Queens, New York. 
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney waves to supporters Tuesday at Pittsburgh International Airport in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. 
Workers prepare for President Barack Obama's election night rally at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. 
A street scene is reflected in the window of a gift shop near the White House in Washington, DC. 
Mike Wegart, 30, stands in line to vote at the Venice Beach lifeguard station in Los Angeles. 
Obama supporter Tonya Lewis rallies for votes outside a polling station in Tampa, Florida. 
Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan leaves a campaign plane in Cleveland, Ohio, Tuesday. 
President Obama greets supporters outside a campaign office in Chicago Tuesday. 
A jogger on The Strand in the Los Angeles area community of Hermosa Beach passes a directional sign to a polling place at sunrise. 
The stage is set for Obama's election night event in Chicago. 
James Tate, 45, holds a sign in support of the Republican ticket in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 
A nun waits in line to cast her vote in Janesville, Wisconsin. 
Children's books about politics line a wall where citizens wait to cast their vote in Janesville, Wisconsin. 
Volunteer David Bowser peeks outside the Pinellas County Democratic Party headquarters in St. Petersburg, Florida. 
Election inspector Jim Nodorft prepares to hang the U.S. flag outside the Smelser Town Hall as polls opened at 7 a.m. in Georgetown, Wisconsin. 
People head to a polling station at Washington's Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on Tuesday. 
The sunrise is visible through a bus window on Election Day in Chicago. 
Voters enter Washington Mill Elementary School in Alexandria, Virginia, to cast their ballots Tuesday. 
Rain doesn't deter voters from waiting in line Tuesday in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Sunshine State -- with its 29 electoral votes -- will be a key player in determining the next president. 
A young girl peers out from under a voting booth as her mother casts a ballot at the Bishop Leo O'Neil Youth Center in Manchester, New Hampshire. 
William Carpenter, an assistant fire chief, puts up an election rules sign at the entrance of a firehouse polling station Tuesday in Port Royal, Virginia. 
Poll worker David Smith uses a tape measure to mark a boundary at a Bowling Green, Ohio, school to keep local politicians 100 feet away from where voters cast ballots. 
Precinct official Bill Partlow inspects a voting machine before polls open Tuesday in Pineville, North Carolina. 
Voters in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, wait to cast the first Election Day ballots of the U.S. presidential race shortly after midnight. For the first time in the village's history, there was a draw, with Obama and Romney each receiving five votes. 
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