WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama, hero of a stunning political year, will spend 2009 trying to craft happy endings to the myriad of crises and political plot twists that will test his historic presidency.

With the spectacular 2008 White House race a fast fading memory, Obama will take office on January 20 with the United States mired in a deep economic crisis, in the most perilous times for a new president for more than 70 years.

Polls show he will at least have public support -- more than 8 in 10 Americans approve of how he has handled his transition, and he can draw on a fund of global goodwill as America's first black president.

Obama will also get a lift from another result of the bumper political year in 2008 -- expanded Democratic majorities in Congress and the party's first monopoly on power in Washington for 14 years.

The 2008 White House race was a political romp of shattered glass ceilings and unpredictable plot twists, featuring Obama's compelling coast-to-coast Democratic primary battle with Hillary Clinton.

2008 was also the year when Republican President George W. Bush became the lamest of lame ducks, his power ran empty as the worst economic crisis since the 1930s Great Depression erupted.

Incredibly, Obama, was not even sworn in as a senator four years ago, but after a stratospheric political ascent will at least partly fulfill Martin Luther King's dream of racial equality.

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer," Obama said in his victory speech in Chicago in November.

His Republican opponent: John McCain, 72-year-old former navy pilot and crusading senator whose long-shot hopes were suffocated by the financial storm.

Clinton was once seen as the "inevitable" Democratic candidate -- in November 2007 she had a 33 percent lead in Democratic polls over Obama.

But her veneer crumbled in the frigid testing ground of the Iowa caucuses in January when Obama pulled off a shock win.

Days later though, Clinton was back with a stunning comeback win in New Hampshire's fabled primary.

But after a bitter six-month battle, all that was left of her dream of being the first woman president were the "18 million cracks" she said voters punched in America's highest glass ceiling.

But there was a twist in the tale: Obama named her his secretary of state in a heavyweight "team of rivals" Cabinet.

Democrats did not have all the fun.

McCain snatched Alaska Governor Sarah Palin from obscurity to be his vice presidential nominee.

The self-styled pit bull hockey Mom in lipstick electrified conservatives and seemed a golden asset after a blockbuster convention speech.

But shaky TV interviews fanned doubts about her readiness and a devastating parody by comedian Tina Fey made Palin a punch line.

Bush may have been a minor player in 2008, but his failures were the backdrop for the unfolding drama.

Obama tied the unpopular president to McCain at every turn, making the campaign a referendum on eight years of Republican rule.

Bush took his party down with him. After the 2008 congressional rout, Republicans were left with an identify crisis, their dreams of a new era of dominance in ashes.

Often, 2008 election sideshows were as entertaining as the main act.

Clinton and Obama excoriated one another during the primary campaign -- he ridiculed her foreign trips as having tea with ambassadors -- she said he was not ready for a White House 3:00 a.m. crisis call.

Palin meanwhile stoked criticism in the general election for accusing Obama of "palling" around with terrorists.

In 2008, The Internet transformed campaigning: Obama used online donations to take his fundraising to a stunning $750 million.

But several times online distractions threatened to overwhelm the rigid message discipline of his campaign team as when, in a video time bomb, tapes of racially tinged rants from his former pastor Jeremiah Wright emerged.

He responded with the most eloquent examination of race in recent US political history, displaying his eloquent oratorical skills which were a decisive factor in his election.

Those skills will be in demand over and over again next year, as Obama takes office in the most unfavorable environment for a president since Franklin Roosevelt in 1933, also in the eye of a terrible economic storm.