ABSTRACT
For Obama, an important challenge was to begin to restore American prestige following the battering that it had taken under eight years of President George W. Bush - a period marked by American unilateralism and a response to the 2001 terrorist attacks that was widely judged to have provided fuel to America's enemies. The transformation of the world's economic fortunes from steady growth to rapid contraction was an extraordinary reversal. While periodic recessions are normal events, the suddenness of the collapse from boom to bust was caused by an even more extraordinary seizing-up in financial markets. Economies and government finances were weak in many countries, and the prospects for recovery were shaky. Yet Obama was certainly aware that the effort to restore America's standing would be a long-term one. It would be carried out on a multitude of fronts, among which he would be more successful in some that in others.
