Think of the White House as America's largest and most prestigious property as having been on the market for the last two years. The occupant during that time was eager to close the deal and get out of town as quickly as possible as he was aware that he would be losing his steady employment in January '09. There were a number of offers made and the owner preferred someone like himself to get it. But unfortunately his personal choice was outbid by someone from Chicago.
And it was only after having moved in that the new occupant realized that looks can be deceiving. When he actually started poking around the dozens of rooms and nooks and crannies, he found that the place had really been left to rot. Yup, that symbol of America's history, power, and prestige was crumbling. He knew there were a lot of problems but he never realized how critical the condition really was until he started finding whole sections of the house where the major structural problems had either been painted or wallpapered over.
It seems the previous occupant had been more concerned with the facade of the house and let the infrastructure to deteriorate. Oh, he had plenty of money to spend while he was living there but preferred to use it for foreign trips and lavish gifts for his friends and associates. The beautiful old building was just a place to hang his cowboy hat. It reminded him of his college days when he lived in the frat house. It was a fun place but you knew it was only temporary.
So now the new guy is going to have to spend a ton of money to begin to repair all the damage that has been done during those last eight years. The good news is that it will give an awful lot of people the employment they desperately need right now. But he's going to have to borrow all that money and it's going to take a very long time to repay the debt. But he has no choice.
The house must be saved.