Why would anyone want to be U.S. president?

As the November elections approach, one question
jumps to mind: Why does anyone want to be president? Taking the rudder
of the United States has never been anything but an enormous challenge.
The difficulties confronting the winner of the next election will prove
no exception.

I’m not referring to the state of American politics and
the way the two parties have suddenly decided they cannot work together,
or about the giant economic dilemmas that loom in the American horizon.
I’m simply looking at the warning signs rising from the other side of
the Atlantic — I’ll leave the Pacific for another day. It’s enough to
take your breath away.

Consider, for a small sample, what has
transpired in the world in just the last few days. In the course of a
single week, the European Union, America’s principal global ally, inched
closer to the edge of economic disaster. We know Greece is standing at
the brink of the precipice and has already seen many rocks slide out
from under its feet. But Greece is a small country. The really
frightening troubles are becoming visible in Spain, where banks are
groaning under a mountain of bad real estate debt. This is not the
result of too much government generosity. It’s the product of an
economic collapse that sucked the air out of the real estate property
market.

If Spain falls, Europe may not be able to avert disaster. America
will not be able to build a sea wall tall enough to keep out the
tsunami.

But Europe is hardly the only danger ahead. Egypt, the
most populous country in the Middle East, recently held its first free
presidential election — and produced a most disappointing result.
Instead of choosing one of the relatively moderate candidates, voters
chose the two extremes. The top two vote-getters will face off in a
run-off next month, and the outcome of that election is sure to give
heartburn to whoever lives in the White House in the coming years.

The
next president of Egypt will be either Mohammed Morsi, a hardline
leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, or Ahmed Shafiq, a former general who
served as Mubarak’s last prime minister.

Whether Morsi or Shafiq
wins, the future for Egypt looks like a confrontation waiting to happen
between the military and the Brotherhood. Nobody, by the way, seems to
be standing for the liberal principles that guided the young, secular
activists of Tahrir Square.

Egypt could become the first post-Arab
Spring country whose government is completely dominated by the Muslim
Brotherhood, or it could erupt into Muslims versus military clashes, or
it could end up with a military takeover. The way ahead looks as clear
as a sand storm. And we’re talking about the Middle East, the most
unstable region of the world even before the new wave of revolutions
started last year, and lest we forget, the source and transit point of
much of the world’s economic lifeblood, oil.

As Egyptians voted a
few days ago, western powers met with representatives of Iran, hoping
for progress in efforts to stop the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
The meeting in Baghdad achieved nothing, except an agreement to meet
again next month in June. Every few weeks we hear more evidence from
U.N. nuclear inspectors, who say Iran is enriching uranium to higher
levels and appears to be preparing to “militarize” its nuclear
operations.

The president’s briefing on Iran was probably
interrupted by news from Syria, where the regime is intensifying its
slaughter of anti-dictatorship protests. Now an Iranian general has let
it slip that Iranian Revolutionary Guards are helping forces loyal to
Syrian President Bashar Assad put down the rebellion.

Pressure is
growing for intervention in Syria, but Russia, in particular, has given
Assad cover. Syria is becoming a proxy for the battle between Iran and
its Arab, Sunni, and western adversaries.

Regardless of what
unfolds in Europe, and how the American economy fares in the coming
months, the danger from the continuing crises in the Middle East will
occupy the days of the man who wins in November. And it is sure to
occupy some of his nights, as well, with a few 3 a.m. emergency calls
sure to wake him up.

With the world changing at such a dangerous
pace, it would be nice if he could count on a Congress and an opposition
party with a strong sense of loyalty, and on an economy strong enough
to provide more freedom of action. Yet it’s all but certain that those
luxuries, available to some of his predecessors, will remain absent for
the winner of the next election.