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Every honeymoon ends sometime, but Neil Abercrombie‘s barely lasted six weeks.

At a press conference Monday afternoon, a cloud as real as the rainy skies outside seemed to darken the governor’s demeanor.

Gone was the exuberance seen election night, the wide smile beaming joy, the jokes and levity that filled even the executive chambers since his ascension to the Capitol’s fifth floor just 14 days ago.

What had changed was the harsh reality, revealed by Abercrombie, that the state now faced a $843 million budget shortfall over the next two fiscal years. He characterized the shortfall as a giant sinkhole. One wondered whether Abercrombie’s plan had already been sucked into it.

The problem, it turns out, is that the state faces a $71.6 million shortfall this fiscal year ending June 30, another totaling $410.1 million in FY 2012 and yet another in FY 2013 amounting to $361.8 million.

Abercrombie promised the state would find a way out of the sinkhole and insisted — angrily, sometimes — that taxes would not be raised and jobs would not be cut to do so.

And he attempted to give it the old Abercrombie shot of optimism.

“Crisis is often an opportunity,” he said, “and if anything this gives us an opportunity to do the things we want to do.”

The biennium budget submitted to the Legislature was compiled by his predecessor. But Abercrombie had interim Budget and Finance Director Kalbert Young and Deputy Director Dean Hirata give it a thorough going over.

Based on current projections and allocations, the budget — which can be viewed by following — didn’t pencil out.

Young called the budget “a sobering picture.”

But not one without hope. For one, visitor arrivals and spending have been on the mend. A new state Council on Revenues forecast expected later this month should portend better days to come.

The budget is indeed, as the governor said, “a work in progress,” a baseline to start from. It will be adjusted and amended even before the Legislature starts its new session Jan. 19.

Abercrombie’s administration is already in close consultation with state House and Senate leaders, and Calvin Say, Shan Tsutsui and staff of the respective finance committees were on hand at Abercrombie’s press conference, bolstering his call for renewed collaboration.

The stark budget picture seems to indicate that there’s little, if any, room for spending on new programs, as Abercrombie’s New Day plan seems to require.

Asked by reporters where new revenue would come from, the governor said — repeatedly — that it would come from “retooling,” “reconfiguring” and “restructuring” the budget.

But Abercrombie provided no specifics, and when pressed he fell back on familiar campaign sound bites like “innovative use of financing,” “pursuing federal dollars,” “lowest interest rates in decades,” “our biggest resource is the untapped public employee” and “public-private partnerships.”

He was adamant that increasing the general excise and use tax, grabbing the county’s share of the transient accommodations taxes and continuing this year’s furloughs and layoffs would not happen.

Yet he also seemed to leave wiggle room, saying that many things were “on the table.” Maybe, for example, he said he would have to revisit his recent decision — his first as governor — to release Rainy Day and Hurricane funds previously allocated by the Legislature for social and other programs.

As Abercrombie defended himself and his plans, his voice began to rise in decibels, his tone turned more exasperated, his hands became more expressive, his face more flush.

He said bringing prisoners home would save the state money, not cost it. He portrayed signing the environmental impact statement for Honolulu rail project as a governor in action, and praised the state’s Environmental Quality Control Office for doing “heroic work.”

By that time his press secretary, Donalyn Dela Cruz, had begun to approach the governor’s desk, a sure sign that the press conference needed to wrap up.

It eventually did, but not before Abercrombie was in full force.

“We are going to put people back to work! … We are going to take control of our own destiny! … Take my word for it, I got elected for a reason: They want action, they get Abercrombie!”

Phew.

The governor caught his breath and asked reporters to give him and his administration a little breathing room, something he has requested several times now. An interesting request from a candidate who said he was ready to govern on Day One.