From a British Perspective: "Barack Obama's Top 10 Moments in Power"

1 The $3.6 trillion budget (February 26, 2009)

I would contend that this was the most profound and revealing moment of Obama’s young presidency. It is a document of breathtaking ambition and cost. It is a manifesto to achieve reform in health car, energy and education all at once. It was a declaration of massive government intervention in the US economy, and a rewriting of the American social contract from Right to Left. Tim Reid, Washington Correspondent

2 The YouTube message to Iran (March 19, 2009)

It took real guts for President Obama to extend the hand of friendship to Iran after 30 years of hostility and mistrust. He chose his moment well, making his address to the Iranian people on the eve of their most important holiday, Nowruz, the Persian New Year. Crucially he went out of his way to offer "mutual respect" and to praise Persian culture and history. His words had an immediate impact in Iran, where millions tuned in to his speech. The regime was caught wrong-footed and has so far shunned his gesture. But Obama broke the ice and has taken the first tentative steps towards ending a painful period for Americans, Iranians and others caught up in this bitter feud. Richard Beeston, Foreign Editor...

9 The handshake outside No 10 (April 2, 2009)

When Barack Obama entered Downing Street to meet Gordon Brown in April, he paused on the threshold, said something polite, grinned, and shook hands with the policeman on guard at the door. There is always a policeman guarding the door at No 10. No one has ever shaken hands with him before. Let alone the President of the United States. The policeman looked mildly thunderstruck, then thrilled... Gordon Brown followed Obama into the building. For a moment it seemed that he, too, might shake hands with the policeman. But he did not. Mr Brown does not do spontaneous things like that. And that, perhaps, says it all. Ben Macintyre

10 The dance at the inauguration ball (January 20, 2009)

The relationship between President and First Lady will be one of the defining elements of the Obama Administration. The Bush marriage was a formal, undemonstrative affair. The Clinton marriage was a soap opera. The Obamas have clearly made the decision to invite the public to see how they interact with one another. Barely a public address passes, by either of them, without statement of affection for one another. The photographs of the Obamas dancing at the end of the inauguration festivities seemed to capture this: they are exhausted, elated, and astonishingly intimate. They are aware of the public eye upon them, but entirely caught up in on another. Ben Macintyre

Just days after Obama’s Inauguration swearing-in had been partially bungled by a nervous John Roberts, Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, Joe Biden, the Vice-President, made a quip about it before the cameras. Obama, standing next to him, looks furious — a rare loss of cool — and glares in his direction, while touching his shoulder as if to say: “Stop it now.”

A new book has now revealed how distracted Obama has been about Biden’s gaffes and verbosity. Indeed, the book claims, he rebuked him strongly after one incident inside the White House.