New York:
Last year today, a 47-year-old first-term Senator, was sworn in as the first non-white President of the United States. One year on opinion polls are revealing a growing polarisation over his performance.
It was a euphoric inauguration that inspired hope across the United States and the world.
Now a year on, nearly half of Americans say President Obama has failed to deliver on campaign promises.
According to a poll published in the Washington post, Obama's approval ratings which were close to 70 % last year, have sunk to about 50 per cent.
"Since he has been elected he has run into inevitable difficulties on a number of platforms including healthcare, jobless rate increase. he has had a continues problem with the economy. All things he has inherited but none the less he has not been able to resolve. So what you see in the polls reflect the general frustration of people in America today that nothing has really been fixed at all," said Joe Peyronnin, Former President, Fox News.
It still is difficult to judge the success or failure of a presidency by the first year in office. After a year, Reagan had one of the lowest approval ratings at 48%, and Bush had the highest, at 84%, post 9/11
While the protracted debate over health care and the economy are dragging down Obama's standings, there is a sign of hope for the administration - President Obama remains more popular than his policies continues to get higher ratings for personal liability and trustworthiness.