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I’ll throw this out there: I feel really bad for President-elect Barack Obama.

Nothing is going his way right now. The economy’s in the toilet, Americans are unhappy, and the rest of the world is slowly going to shut itself in to deal with its own problems.

Don’t get me wrong. Everything started out well for him. Many elements of his platform were entirely feasible up to a few months ago. The one that I’ve got in mind specifically was his desire to make college education more affordable to all families.

He had proposed a $4,000 tax credit toward tuition for families who send their students to college as well as a simplification of the forms for federal financial aid. While these measures are a mere drop in the vast galaxy-sized bucket of Penn tuition, every bit helps.

In general, raising the number of students attending college can only yield positive results for the future of the United States economy. (See also: Cold War math and science education.)

The conflict in Mumbai right now brings into sharp relief the contrast between the ideal and the likely, in the sense that, once again, Obama has more on his hands than ever.

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