Come November he will face a strong challenge from a Republican candidate.

In mid-term elections in 2010 the nation swung strongly from the Democrats to the Republicans.

As a result, Mr Obama lost control of the House of Representatives and the Senate is finely balanced.

On Tuesday he reviewed an amazing year that saw Osama bin Laden killed by Americans, a start on large-scale troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and a final withdrawal from Iraq.

However, he recognised that Americans at home worry more about issues directly affecting them.

These range from crises in jobs, housing, education and immigration to all sorts of issues affecting banking, the financial industry and taxation.

Right now the polls don’t give Mr Obama much of a chance of re-election, except for one thing.

Republicans are bitterly divided and their candidates for the party nomination are still fighting ugly.

Unless they get behind a credible candidate soon, Mr Obama could, in effect, have it all his own way.