President Barack Obama’s first term might be compared to a circus. Obama must tightrope walk with the Republicans in order not to piss them off, and rather than tame the lions, he will hopefully tame the terrorists. He must also become a contortionist; the budget must be stretched even thinner to fix health care, energy, education and the economy.

As if this wasn’t enough, he decided to add a magic show. In a recent New York Times article President Obama promised “to cut the annual deficit at least in half by the end of his term.”

This will require nothing short of magic, but Obama could be just the magician this country needs.

This past weekend, Obama made it clear just how ambitious this plan is. The shortfall for the 2009 fiscal year is $1.5 trillion; the projected shortfall for 2013, according to Obama’s plan, is $533 billion. These figures include the $700 billion bailout and the $787 billion stimulus package.

It seems asinine to promise such a large reduction in spending when all the legislation passed so far has contained more zeros than all of our tuition checks combined. But once again, Obama is one step ahead of us.

He will suggest that several programs be shown the door. These include the Medicare Advantage subsidies (people who use this can “otherwise acquire health care from the government”) and private contractor spending. Obama will also downsize some campaign promises. He also estimated that once troops are out of Iraq, we could save $90 billion a year.

President Obama has made it harder because he will not use Washington’s old tricks like Bush did. Unlike Bush, Obama “will include war costs in the budget.” It seems with Obama’s recent efforts at bipartisanship (regardless of how fruitless they may be) and his love for transparency,that he is making a conscious effort to break away from business as usual in Washington.

“The president believes there are essentially three areas that have to move forward even as we pare back elsewhere — health care, energy and education,” Obama’s senior adviser David Axelrod said in the article.

With an emphasis in these areas, we can actually get somewhere. Health-care costs are through the roof and energy costs can be cut if we don’t invest in foreign oil. Education is the engine that will drive the economy through a recession; a well-educated workforce means a more competitive marketplace.

President Obama might actually be able to work this magic show. He seems to have a way with numbers as it is; when all the pundits counted him out, 365 electoral votes managed to slide into his column on Nov. 4, 2008.

To accomplish all of this, Obama will need to be the best ringmaster this country has ever seen. He hasn’t even prepared us for the encore act yet, juggling all of this while simultaneously running the free world. Just as he has done before, Obama will find a way to defy logic.

Andrew is learning to swallow swords. Send him your tips at andrew.hedlund@asu.edu.