When Barack Obama became president of the United States in January 2009, expectations were unprecedented. Although Obama had proven his ability to inspire the world, still at the end of 2009 the President said that “change…takes time.” Since this book was written last year the world has witnessed unexpected global crises and ongoing conflicts: the devastation of the earthquake in Haiti, the BP oil spill, a stalled Middle East peace process hampered by substantial diplomatic rifts between regional powers, and America’s war in Afghanistan becoming its longest in history.