First, restore confidence Forget four years. In the first six weeks of his tenure, the new president's to-do list will include: Restoring a sense of public confidence that the country can meet and solve the financial challenges ahead. At campaign rallies, Obama already has quoted FDR's admonition that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Guiding implementation of the financial industry rescue plan, including figuring out which toxic assets Treasury should buy from struggling institutions and how much to pay for them. The move to use $250 billion of the bailout to buy stakes in banks will put the government in the unfamiliar role of part owner of institutions that embody free-market capitalism. Beginning to revamp a regulatory structure largely built during the Depression so that it reflects the complexity of the current global financial system. Deciding whether and how to begin the drawdown of most U.S. combat forces from Iraq. Obama says he wants to complete the withdrawal in his first 16 months in office. McCain says a reduction is on the horizon but hasn't set a timetable. Responding to the urgent request this month by Gen. David McKiernan, the top commander in Afghanistan, for more U.S. troops there. Army Times reports that Gen. David Petraeus, who takes overall command of the region on Oct. 31, plans to deliver a report to the president in February after conducting a "top-to-bottom" review. Submitting the federal budget for fiscal 2010 to Congress in early February. It presumably will reflect the costs of the bailout plan and the revenue impact of the economic slowdown. Being prepared for terrorists to strike during the transition, a timing they have used before. The World Trade Center was bombed five weeks after President Clinton took office in 1993; the Madrid train bombings took place three days before national elections in Spain in 2004; car-bomb attacks were attempted in London and Glasgow days after a new British prime minister took office in 2007.