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Republicans and Democrats agree: Election season may have ended just four days ago, but it's already time to get back to work. In this case, "back to work" might mean, "back to fighting."

Friday, leaders in both parties made their opening bids on how to deal with the tax, spending and debt problems that face the country at the end of this year.

While the scenario echoes last year's spending battle, there are some differences that could push the parties toward the resolution they never reached last time around.

Where The President Stands

In the East Room of the White House, nearly 200 Obama supporters sat in chairs, ready to jump to their feet the minute the commander in chief entered the room. These were President Obama's first public remarks since election night.

"Now that those of us on the campaign trail have had a chance to get a little sleep, it's time to get back to work. And there is plenty of work to do," he said.

The campaign was challenging. But two days back in Washington was enough to remind everyone that governing is no cakewalk either. Many of the president's lines Friday were lifted directly from his stump speech.

"We can't just cut our way to prosperity. If we're serious about reducing the deficit, we have to combine spending cuts with revenue," he said. "And that means asking the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more in taxes."

The president said he's open to compromise, with one caveat: The rich must pay more. According to Election Day exit polls, six in 10 voters said they agree, a number you're likely to hear a lot from Democrats.

"I'm open to new ideas. I'm committed to solving our fiscal challenges, but I refuse to accept any approach that isn't balanced," Obama said.

Enlarge Susan Walsh/AP

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio holds a news conference on Capitol Hill Friday.

John Crowood's traditional London cab was one of a horde when he began driving more than 30 years ago, trundling through the city's streets among so many benevolent black beetles.

Today, he's one of a dwindling band. Crowood says that the only company that makes the classic, retro London cab had to recall 400 of its newest vehicles after a mechanical defect was found, leaving hundreds of his fellow cabbies unable to ply their trade.

"They've been ordered off the road because they're not fit for use. And now the cab drivers are stuck because they can't get the replacement taxis because there aren't enough spare taxis available for them to use," he says.

Part-time drivers had already nabbed all the available rental vehicles just ahead of the lucrative holiday season. Gary Nickles had only been driving his new taxi two weeks when it was recalled — too late to grab one of the last remaining rental vehicles, as he's discovered on a tour of all the rental firms.

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Far from the political theater of China's Communist Party Congress in Beijing this week is a cave that the country's next leader once called home.

Just 15 at the time, Xi Jinping was sent by his family in Beijing to the remote rural village Liangjiahe in the hills of Shaanxi Province, hundreds of miles away, where for seven years he lived in a cave scooped out of the yellow loess hillsides.

He arrived there in 1968, after his father, a revolutionary fighter and former vice premier, had fallen from political favor.

"Many kids were leaving Beijing and being seen off by their parents," says historian Tan Huwa from Yanan University.

"Their kids were crying about leaving their lives in Beijing. But he was smiling when he left because leaving was his only way out," Tan says. "His father's situation was such that if he stayed, he wouldn't even amount to anything."

Enlarge Louis Lim/NPR

Xi lived in the cave house on the far right, in Liangjiahe village in central China. After his father's political downfall in Beijing, his parents sent him there when he was 15 in 1968.