Presidential campaigns can become abstract, petty and distracting. But the reality of the presidency hits home the moment a president takes the oath of office.

When President Barack Obama gave his first inaugural address in 2009, he carried a secret in his jacket pocket. A terrorist threat loomed over the ceremony; If the attack happened, he was prepared to pull out evacuation instructions and read them to the nearly half a million people standing before him on the National Mall.

For voters who haven’t cast their ballots yet, here’s what’s in store for your chosen president:

The next commander in chief will control thousands of nuclear warheads and command troops in more than 150 countries. They will confront Russia and China – adversaries working together to dismantle the international order America created and nurtured.

Russia threatens NATO countries; China threatens Taiwan. America has pledged to protect both, and so will the next president.

There are multi-headed challenges in the Middle East, as President Joe Biden has learned.

Those are the known threats. It is almost certain that the next president will be in for a surprise.

During the 2000 campaign, the topic of terrorism was raised only once during the presidential debates. It dominated the next two decades.

In 2016, a president’s son and brother tried to focus the electorate on the key question about the presidency: “The next president will face an unforeseen challenge; that’s almost certain,” said former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. “It could be a pandemic, a major natural disaster or an attack on our country. … Because that is the question. They’re not the things we’re talking about today. That is the big challenge be able to to happen.”

The pandemic did arrive. The next president may need the temperament and focus to handle another, either a truly catastrophic cyber attack, or a financial crisis that grips the global economy.

At home we have heard a lot about the border, high prices and abortion. In addition, the next president will face long-standing issues that have dogged successive administrations:

• Chronic price increases in healthcare, education and housing are blocking access to the American Dream.
• Artificial intelligence is about to cause major disruptions in the job market.
• If the size of the debt and deficit is not addressed, it could overwhelm the economy.
• The damage caused by climate change is becoming irreversible.

You cannot order troops to solve these problems. It takes vision, patience and dedication, which you may not get credit for.

Americans choose more than just a person. They choose values, temperament and character that the next president will inject into the executive branch, which has a million civilian employees (4,000 of whom will be hired by Tuesday’s winner).

The idea of ​​the American Experiment is that voters will understand all this and use common reasons to choose the best man or woman to meet these challenges.

For most of American history, that was a given. But the system is now under attack by disinformation, from outside and within, including from Donald Trump, who built his campaign on the lie that he won the last election.

So the first test of the next presidency will come before the oath is taken… in the way a candidate achieves victory, or in the way he doesn’t.

Story produced by Robert Marston. Editor: Chad Cardin.

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