A PHRASE has entered the political bloodstream which you are going to be hearing a lot of in the next little while: “one-term presidency”.

The trouble is because Obama has set himself up as no mere politician, his willingness to make a casual promise he cannot keep makes voters doubt all his other promises.

Even some Republicans see an advantage when it comes to tackling the big foreign policy questions if the nation is led by someone who isn’t milky white, who didn’t grow up amid east coast privilege and who isn’t tainted by Iraq.