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.

On a positive note, his re-election takes the pressure off his popular legislation to extend health coverage to more than 30m uninsured Americans.

However, Republicans will press for healthcare reform concessions, including delaying and scaling back a planned expansion of Medicaid for the poor, during talks on cutting the federal deficit.

Obama’s biggest battle looks to be in addressing the country’s rapidly mounting deficit and unemployment levels — 23m Americans are out of work or in search of a better job.

He has made it clear there is no way to reduce the massive debt and at the same time safeguard crucial social programmes without asking the wealthy to pay their “fair share” in taxes. With the Republicans ruling the House of Representatives, Obama requires bipartisan support. Romney had campaigned on lowering taxes and easing regulations on businesses, saying it would spur job growth.

The parties face a “fiscal cliff” in January when billions of dollars in tax increases and automatic spending cuts come into force. If that is not addressed, the economy could dip back into recession.

Obama is also under pressure to show the way on climate change, to show more leadership on the Syrian conflict, and head off the nuclear threat posed by Iran.