With the tension of the election finally behind him, newly re-elected President Obama can now focus on the great challenge in front of him; the fear of falling off the great “fiscal cliff.” Confronted with a stew of tax hikes and spending cuts which are calculated to siphon off about $600 billion from the economy unless some deal is made with Congress, Obama has a lot to think about when the victory parties and acceptance speeches are history.

There are two essential but separate issues to lose sleep over: the coming expiration of individual tax cuts at the end of 2012; and tens of billions of dollars in spending cuts which will hit practically every agency like a sledgehammer, due to kick in on January 2, 2013.

Driving off the cliff could send shock waves to US markets, sending the country back into recession mode, with reverberations across the globe. It is clear that how Obama handles this crisis, especially given that Republicans won control of the House of Representatives, could make for exciting politics in the coming months.