That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood

No. It was not about an attempt to “bury bad news.” Just coincidence that Bank Governor Mervyn King’s gloomy outlook for the UK economy hit the Press on the same day as the Obama speech. His predictions about “a difficult year for us all” had been underlined by the announcement that the Royal Bank of Scotland had made the biggest corporate loss in British history. So could it be that we are about to be rescued by the US 7th Cavalry, also known as the Federal Reserve Bank? The pound, which has fallen in value by 25% since mid-2007, could certainly do with some support.

Obama’s address has been variously described as “not enough like Lincoln at Gettysburg” or “in the great traditions of Paul Revere and the call to arms” (against, you recall, the British invader). So whilst opinion remains divided on the rhetoric, what is clear is that he firmly placed crisis at the top of the agenda. According to one US TV commentator on Pennsylvania Avenue, “he was, in American parlance, telling it like it is.”