Obama's 'post-euphoria pre-delivery' phase
How much trouble is Obama in?
President Obama's speech to the United Nations was a reminder of the scale of his ambition and the intractability of the problems before him.
Eight months in, some want to write the president off as a failure.
The simplistic narrative, that so many have been aching to write, is that of the ingénue optimist who comes to Washington, discovers the real world and falls flat on his face.
It's true that over the summer he let the healthcare debate slip out of his hands, and many Americans are uncertain about his plans. In the Middle East, the administration's call on Israel to freeze settlements has been snubbed and makes it look weak. On climate change there is European despair at the poverty of his ambition, while huge numbers of Americans doubt there is a problem. Afghanistan will cause him huge problems, whatever path he takes.
But this is not failure. Not yet.
The president told the United Nations that he was not naïve and was humbled by the expectations placed on his presidency: but they existed not because of him, but because of discontent with the status quo, and hope that change is possible.
My colleague Nick Robinson, here with me at the UN, reminds me this is what Tony Blair called the "post euphoria, pre-delivery phase".
It is right to point out that the challenges Obama faces, and those he has freely chosen to face, are immense. Other presidents tried and failed to do much about the Middle East peace, failed to confront North Korea and Iran over their weapons programmes. President Bush decided Iraq was a more immediate problem. But those potential threats are more pressing than they were all those years ago. And there are fresh dilemmas on climate change, Afghanistan and health. It's hard to see how decisions on any of those will make the president any more popular at home.
The weakest and much mocked default pay-off for a TV reporter is "only time will tell". But the next three months will be critical. We will know, by the end of the year, what hard decisions Obama has made on healthcare, Afghanistan, Iran and climate change. And we will know the reaction of the world and the American people. Judgement may be at hand, but it is not for today.
I’m Mark Mardell, the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s North America editor. These are my reflections on American politics, some thoughts on being a Brit living in the USA, and who knows what else? My 
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