“We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.”

–President Barack Obama, in his inaugural address on Tuesday.

With Barack Obama set to become the forty-fourth president of the United States today, analysts of international affairs are looking ahead at the policy measures the new administration will seek to implement. A new Daily Analysis from CFR.org examines the landscape, noting that Obama will take office bolstered by goodwill at home and abroad, but that he will instantly be confronted by a dizzying series of challenges. Obama’s most urgent priority, it seems, will be passing a sweeping economic stimulus package, the details of which Democratic lawmakers unveiled late last week. But the new administration will also be tasked with overseeing an orderly drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq; finding a way forward in Afghanistan; managing tense and potentially volatile situations in South Asia and the Middle East; and forging a strategy for dealing with nuclear North Korea and an Iranian state bent on developing a nuclear energy program, and perhaps nuclear weapons. The Economist examines several of these issues and the leaders Obama has appointed to oversee their management in a new article and accompanying interactive graphic.

The New York Times reports this morning that Obama’s transition period since he was elected lends some clues to how he will go about making decisions once in office. The article notes that Obama hasn’t been shy about making swift decisions, but at the same time has sought to tap into the nation’s intellectual dialogue to gauge the best policy decisions. The Wall Street Journal notes, however, that the burgeoning U.S. budget deficit could limit Obama’s ability to follow through on some of his objectives, and that how he prioritizes spending pledges could become one of the major early questions of his presidency. The Financial Times, meanwhile, has a new interactive looking at which members of the Democratic Party have been bolstered by Obama’s ascendence, and what it might mean for Washingon.

Background:

- CFR.org’s bio of Obama outlines his statements on many of the most urgent foreign policy questions confronting Washington as he takes office.

- CFR’s President Richard Haass advises Obama on many of these issues in an open letter published in Newsweek.

When CFR.org started blogging on the U.S. presidential campaign back in May 2007, the foreign policy terrain appeared relatively uncomplicated. The war in Iraq looked to be the dominant issue. Under the surface, of course, were many simmering issues related to foreign policy and a surprising number emerged as flashpoints during the ensuing campaign – and provided rich mining for our blog – including immigration for the Republicans and trade for the Democrats. The assassination of a Pakistani prime minister and the outbreak of war between Russia and Georgia during the course of the campaigns brought concerns about U.S. policy toward Islamabad and Moscow to the fore. But the main surging issue turned out to be the economy. Like so many of the other issues there were cross-sections for domestic and foreign policy here, as underscored in this CFR.org Issue Guide.

We sought to bring context to the foreign policy debates through our Issue Trackers, twenty-three in all, which charted the candidates’ views, votes, and occasional shifting stances on important foreign policy issues, while avoiding judgment on the merits of their positions. Written and regularly updated by our Chicago-based contributing editor Joanna Klonsky, the trackers quickly became essential reading for a wide range of mainstream media as well as numerous politically wired blogs.

In our daily “Morning Update” posts, we’d filter through the headlines, distilling the news down to just the most important foreign policy stories of the campaign that day.

Our regular “Quote of the Day” posts highlighted the candidates’ significant foreign policy statements on the pressing issue of the moment.

CFR.org also blogged live from the Republican and Democratic National Conventions in late summer 2008. On the blog, we posted interviews with convention delegates and political leaders, gauging their views of their candidates’ foreign policy platform. We reported from CFR’s series of foreign policy panels, featuring experts and statesmen like former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke, among others. You can look back at our coverage from the DNC here, and from the RNC here.

More than a year and a half since our first post, CFR.org’s campaign and transition coverage now comes to an end. All of CFR.org’s campaign and transition content will remain available on our Transition 2008 Archive page, including our candidate and cabinet profiles, Issue Trackers, expert analysis, and the blog itself.

Before a cheering crowd of millions (WashPost) at his inauguration on Tuesday, President Barack Obama called for a “new era of responsibility ” in the face of serious challenges confronting the United States.

Obama said the United States would “begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan.” He also promised to work “tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet.”

Obama characterized his administration’s approach to relations with the Muslim world. “[W]e seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect,” he said.

He also promised to work to relieve poverty around the world. “To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds,” Obama said. “And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect.”

President-elect Barack Obama told USA Today, in an interview published Thursday, he plans to appoint a team to address the crisis in Gaza immediately after his inauguration.

CONFIRMATION HEARINGS: Attorney General-designate Eric Holder denounced the use of torture (CSMonitor) in his Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday.

“I will use every available tactic to defeat our adversaries, and I will do so within the letter and spirit of the Constitution,” he told the Senate Judiciary Committee. Janet Napolitano, nominated to be secretary of the Homeland Security Department, told a committee the nation’s transit system
needed to be made more secure (Philadelphia Inquirer).

Meanwhile, Susan Rice, nominated to be ambassador to the UN, said hoped to strengthen the “indispensable if imperfect” institution.