Obama under the spotlight to deliver

He is the first US president in recent history to win re-election by a smaller margin than he received four years earlier, and now Barack Obama must address the issues which have made him less popular with his electorate.

Obama has little time to celebrate his victory over Mitt Romney because while the Republicans have lost the race for the White House, they still control the House of Representatives.

That means Obama faces an uphill battle to address the many issues which his nation still faces, not least its spiralling $16tn (€12.5tn) national debt.