» The All State Editorial Board

Barack Obama or Mitt Romney are not going to have much time to celebrate victory after either of them wins the 2012 presidential election. While it may be exciting after either of them wins the vote of the people, they have a lot of big challenges ahead.

According to the latest polls, it looks like the presidential election is going to be very close and might not even be decided on election night (this article was written two days before the election).

The All State editorial board believes there are a few basic challenges either candidate will face over the next four years.

The biggest challenge that Obama or Romney will face will be getting Congress to work together. The editorial board believes that partisanship has limited the progress of our country over the last four years.

Washington has been gridlocked because of the Democrat and Republican political divide. For anything to get done, it has to be done with cooperation of both parties and both the House and the Senate.

The All State editorial board believes that the next president needs to make something happen to get Washington working for the people again.

One of the editors believes that there should be more bi-partisan “mosh pits” – or coffee lunches – to promote cooperation between the two parties in congress.

This cooperation will not only help our democracy be more productive but it will also help the people gain trust in Washington.

The next president will also face tough challenges in foreign relations. Obama or Romney will have to deal with the instability of the Middle East and regime changes. The next president will also have to deal with the challenge of how to deal with North Korea’s and Iran’s attempts to develop nuclear weapons.

Regardless of who wins, they will have big challenges that cannot be solved with speeches, broad plans and rhetoric. Our nation’s problems will have to be solved by from all the parties involved.

The All State editorial board thinks that both candidates will have to make concessions to gain the bi-partisanship support from Congress and the people.