Where the Mines Are.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/11/obamas_tripwires.html

It has been said that "new presidents make mistakes." Bill Clinton ran into some trouble very early in his Presidency. Whether it be him being involved in a losing fight to allow open homosexuality in the military or appointing his wife, who was a political novice at the time, to formulate a health care reform plan, which ended in failure. With these mistakes, Clinton became a better, more moderate president in response.
This brings up the point of certain "trip wires" that could cause controversy for the new President. The first trip wire is his stance on abortion and bioethics. In the matter of bioethics, an executive order for the federal support of stem cell research with "spare" embryos, is an example of a decision, if pushed further, that would cause controversy. For abortion, many fear that the removal of limitations on governmental involvement would be a major blow on the pro-life movement, and therefore be a "trip wire" for Obama to find himself involved in much controversy and therefore end a period of governmental neutrality on the issue of abortion.
The second trip wire Obama faces is on the issue of the Fairness Doctrine. This is a federal regulation that requires broadcast outlets to devote equal air time to opposing political viewpoints. This is seen as unnecessary and has even been quoted as "Orwellian." Although Obama stated that he does not support the reimposition of this act, his fellow democrats (such as Nancy Pelosi) are in strong favor of the act. If Obama decides to endorse this act then he will face strong opposition by many who oppose this regulation of speech.
The third trip wire Obama will come across is the "card check" issue. According to current law, workers must have an election with a secret ballot to organize a union. Obama's approach is to remove the secret ballot and allow unions to be created by simply collecting cards signed by workers. Making the ballot public is begging for intimidation and would be seen as hostility towards the business community from the Obama administration. This would be increasingly hazardous for the Obama administration when the need for business cooperation when new energy and health reform is implemented.

"Every new president makes mistakes. But some are avoidable."