The year 2009 began with the spectacular inauguration of President Barack Obama. The image projected by the new president and his family, hope and renewal that his election had cherished so captivated the imagination of Americans that his swearing-January 20 had been followed by the media and the public as never before. Must say that the United States, and this has all industrialized countries were plunged into a severe economic and financial crisis. This is when things are worse than the one desperate cry for change. The new president did not disappoint. Within months, all the rescue measures and stimuli to the economy were in place and hope for a consolidation of the financial system was alive. His popularity was at its zenith. Unemployment,

bank and Barack Obama But this fall, the unemployment rate had reached a new peak, and the bankers seemed to be quickly relapsed into their old habits. The president's popularity had declined sharply, so it then seems to have decided to make a blitz later this year. First, it multiplies the media stunts, such as appearances on 60 Minutes the U.S. network CBS, where he explains how the economy fell back on his feet and he treats the bankers' fat cats "before a national audience. Barack Obama and Copenhagen Then he landed in Copenhagen a few hours before the end of the UN conference on climate and plays the role of savior in tying it to a last minute agreement with the help of China, India and Africa South. The arrival of Obama on the final day of the conference and the agreement that followed did not impress me. His late entry into action that will permit to create the illusion of the influence of the man who was always described the U.S. as the world's most powerful. Moreover, T his conference had started ten days before the arrival of Obama has been a resounding failure in the opinion of the majority of independent observers. The agreement last hour nothing changed. Finally, I found this particularly annoying desire to adopt absolutely reform health care before Christmas. I increasingly feel that this is another brilliant stroke that will not necessarily reform. In a case of this importance, it seems dangerous to make a deadline like we did, because it invites too many compromises in order not to miss the appointment. Speech on the state of the union Next month, as is the tradition every year in January, Barack Obama will deliver to Congress and the Senate met his first speech on the state of the union. I fear that the exercise serves mainly to tell the stunts, such as economic recovery, the Copenhagen conference, reform health care. I sincerely hope that those who judge the president's will beyond spectacular.