The man with the plan - but how well has Obama done in his first 100 days? [GALLO/GETTY]

One hundred days into Barack Obama's presidency, how effective has he been?

The results are mixed. Many new initiatives have been launched, but there are few tangible results to show for them - at least, not yet.

Obama has moved faster than any president in generations to make wholesale changes in American foreign and domestic policies.

"Even our critics would agree," Obama told an audience at Georgetown University in Washington DC earlier this month, "that at the very least, we've been busy". 

Indeed, Obama has launched initiatives at a dizzying rate - sometimes several in one day.

'Hurrying along'

Some of the actions simply amount to plucking low-hanging fruit.

The processes of meeting the big challenges on the economy and foreign policy have begun, but it is too early to tell whether the president's choices have been wise ones.

Obama's biggest political accomplishment this far has been pushing a $787bn economic stimulus package through a reluctant congress in record time.

He also looks set to get most of what he wanted in a $3.5 trillion 2010 budget, which will include down payments on other priorities such as healthcare reform and fighting climate change.

"He's a man in a hurry," says veteran reporter Eleanor Clift of Newsweek magazine, who has covered every president since Jimmy Carter. 

"He realises his popularity may not last at this level and he's trying to extract the maximum leverage he can."

For the time being at least Obama does command wide public support.

Polls show more Americans believe the country is headed in the right direction than any time in the past five years.

Republican opposition

Obama's decision to close Guantanamo sparked anger from the right [GALLO/GETTY]

They spurned his overtures toward bipartisanship and have been relentlessly on the attack - earning Republicans the nickname "the party of no".

Obama's decision to shut down the Guantanamo prison, and to release the shocking Bush-era memos authorising detainee abuse, roused those on the US political right into fury.

Ever quick to play the 'terrorism' card, Dick Cheney, the former vice-president, accused Obama of endangering national security and putting the country at higher risk of attack.

Obama may welcome criticism from a politician as deeply unpopular as Cheney.

But the growing political firestorm over torture, and whether to hold Bush administration officials accountable, could derail Obama's agenda and hopes of peeling off enough Republican politicians to get his legislation through the senate.

New relations

In foreign relations, Obama has moved swiftly to distance himself from Bush's policies, calling for new relations with Europe, Iran, Russia, Cuba and Venezuela.

He set a date of August 31, 2010, for the departure of US combat troops from Iraq.

But Obama's decision to leave up to 50,000 behind as a training and counter-insurgency strike force disappointed many anti-war Democrats.

On his first trips abroad Obama made a point of making connections with politicians and the public.

Most Americans of all political persuasions agree its kind of nice to have a president who is less likely to be loathed and mocked in other parts of the world.

This humbler approach seemed to win over old adversaries such as Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, and Obama is reopening arms reduction talks with Russia and launching a nuclear non-proliferation initiative.

But Europeans refused his request for a bigger economic stimulus and balked at sending more troops to Afghanistan.

Urging patience

The process has been a learning experience - it takes more than a smile and a handshake to solve longstanding dilemmas. 

Since Obama took office Pakistan has become increasingly unstable, with the government ceding territory to fighters.

Talks with Iran over its nuclear programme have not yet begun, and North Korea defiantly fired off a ballistic missile.

In the Middle East Obama appointed seasoned negotiator George Mitchell to revive peace efforts, but Israel's new, right-wing coalition government will make a monumental task even harder.

Obama's answer: Patience, please. "If you are persistent, then these problems can be dealt with," he said in a March press conference. 

Shift to Afghanistan

Obama's troop build up in Afghanistan will test America's commitment to the war [AFP]

Afghanistan is on the verge of heating up in a big way as the weather warms and the national elections approach.

And public toleration of Obama's war could wear thin in a hurry.

Many Americans are sick of all the wars of the past seven years and Obama sounds like an echo of Bush when he makes the case for fighting in Afghanistan by invoking 9/11, yet again.

So far, there has been more promise than results.

Obama has the goodwill and support of most Americans.

But that will not last forever and he must follow through and execute the plans he has put in motion, starting with the economy.

If the jobless rate does not start to turn around by early 2010, Obama's political capital will be in serious need of a stimulus of its own.