Who can fail to be impressed by Barack Obama's energy, or a little stunned by his self-confidence? Show this man a financial crisis, sufficient to occupy or overwhelm an ordinary president, and he sees the chance to “remake” – as he puts it – the entire US economy. You might dismiss that as rhetorical exuberance, but it becomes ever more apparent that his ambition is real. For good or ill, he means to do it.

In foreign policy, one sees the same disposition – the same appetite, the same willingness to bring new thinking to old problems. In recent days, the administration has conceived a spate of new approaches and initiatives.

Just as the financial breakdown is too small a domestic canvas, so Iraq and Afghanistan – where the US currently has most at stake and which constitute by themselves a crushing workload – are too mild a test. The White House has recently made approaches to Cuba and Iran, alongside diplomatic “resets” on Mexico and Latin America, Russia, China, the Middle East, Nato, global summitry, global warming, the international financial institutions and almost anything you care to name.