Barack Obama has held his first radio and Internet speech as the President of the United States. Not surprisingly, he concentrated on how to fix the flailing economy. His very expensive and complex plan is now being considered by congress, and also by the public, but they already had their say about two and a half months ago.

I expect this plan to be accepted, even also happily so. But this is a very expensive plan. Obama’s figure is $825, but this could rise. But as the president said: ‘In short, if we do not act boldly and swiftly, a bad situation could become dramatically worse.’

My question is whether people will sing Obama’s praises in just under four years time, when it is time to tally up and another presidential election is under way. Because there will be a price to pay for this, and taxes will have to rise when people once again are better off, the unemployment is down and people have faith in the economy. Will the people of America be able to understand that this is the only way out of the mess they are currently in? I hope so, because I think Obama’s vision for a better America needs more than 4 years. He needs 8.