Roland Burris

Israel’s commitment of ground troops in Gaza brings the crisis to a new and surely more dangerous level. Its rejection of calls for a ceasefire and Hamas’s resistance to halting rocket attacks into southern Israel mean Barack Obama will already have a major foreign policy crisis on his hands by the time he assumes office. Add to this the stimulus package and the bipartisan support Obama needs to deal with the deepening economic recession, and it is clear the new president will face the most difficult start since FDR took the oath of office in 1932.