A Man in a Hurry (Independent, UK)

The expectations that attended Barack Obama's arrival at the White House were stratospheric – not just in the United States, but around the world. It seemed impossible that he would be able to live up to them, and they still seem unrealistic. After only three full days as President, however, Mr Obama has given a whole meaning to the notion of hitting the ground running. Not only do George Bush's two terms already feel like the long distant past, but also a volley of signal measures has been announced, along with a striking list of key appointments.

It is not just the new President's frenetic pace that has impressed, but his choice of priorities and the clarity of the messages sent. He had occupied the Oval Office for only a matter of minutes, it seemed, before he called for the suspension of military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay. He followed up with executive orders announcing the closure of the hated prison camp within a year, along with all secret CIA detention centres. He also ordered a ban on interrogation methods widely regarded as torture. No other set of measures could have communicated so eloquently that this was an administration concerned to show a different face to the world.

On Thursday, accompanied by his Vice-President, he went in person to the State Department where he introduced Hillary Clinton, and watched as she presented the men he had appointed special envoys to two of the most troubled parts of the world: George Mitchell in the Middle East and Richard Holbrooke to South Asia. US diplomacy, Mr Obama was saying, had been wrested back from the Pentagon, and the State Department had full presidential support.

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