Meanwhile, he inherits an America that is no longer an undisputed hegemony, and that, together with its allies, is immersed in the most severe economic crisis since 1929. Struggling with a crisis that is shaking the foundations of capitalism and the American way of life, and laden with a $10 trillion national debt and a $1 trillion budget deficit, the United States is bound to opt for a realistic foreign policy, one that departs from the haughty disregard for history, tradition, and religion that characterized the Bush administration.