At a glance: Obama's first year in office

A year ago, there were parties on the streets of Washington DC, as Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States.

But 12 months on, the rhetoric of the campaign trail has given way to the harsh realities of dealing with a country at war and crippled by recession.

And despite the president's pledge to cross the aisle and work closely with Republicans as well as his own Democrats, the party political divide has widened, not narrowed, since his election.

So what has Barack Obama achieved in his first year in office?

ECONOMY | IRAQ & AFGHANISTAN | THE ENVIRONMENT | HEALTHCARE | DIPLOMACY | SECURITY | SUCCESS STORIES | BROKEN PROMISES | ONGOING PROBLEMS

Barack Obama's predecessor as Democratic President, Bill Clinton, famously explained the biggest issue for US voters as "the economy, stupid!"

Almost a decade after Clinton left office, and with the US facing one of the worst economic downturns since the Great Depression, it was the same story for Obama.

A year on, the new president's calm leadership on the issue has seen the once perilous situation ease somewhat.

The economy has stabilised, finances have been boosted with a US$787 billion stimulus plan, and America's banks are no longer failing at a rate of one or more a week.

But it's certainly not all good news for Obama.

US unemployment is at 10 per cent, and the country is running an unsustainable budget deficit of 11.2 per cent of GDP - the biggest since the Second World War.

The economy's still fragile state is the main reason for Obama's tumbling approval ratings, which have dropped by a massive 20 per cent in a year.

Ending George W Bush's hugely unpopular war in Iraq was one of Obama's key campaign pledges.

A year on, US troops - albeit fewer of them - are still in the country, though the end is finally in sight.

American forces have withdrawn from Iraqi cities, and their main role is now in assisting the Iraqi military and police.

Most soldiers will be sent home by August, and those that remain beyond that date are expected to leave by the end of next year.

Obama's plan has been to remove troops from Iraq in order to send them to Afghanistan, where the security situation was spiralling out of control even as Iraq's insurgency was being countered.

In December, the president announced a massive troop surge, under which 30,000 US soldiers would be sent in to help Afghan forces fight the Taliban.

Many fear Afghanistan could become Obama's Vietnam: a long, bloody and unwinnable war; and the president himself admits troops there face a tough task.

In an effort to counter concerns his soldiers would become bogged down in a lengthy battle against militants and insurgents, Obama insisted he was aiming for US forces to begin withdrawing next summer.

But in setting such a deadline, critics argue he has shot himself in the foot: Taliban fighters need only sit and wait for US troops to withdraw.

While his opponents were vowing to "drill, baby, drill!" Obama was pledging to end the US's dependence on foreign oil, not by finding more of it in America's back yard, but by increasing the use of alternative energy sources.

The future president also promised to create a cap-and-trade system to curb greenhouse gas emissions and end the US's status as an environmental bogeyman.

Twelve months on, and while some progress has been made - $50 billion stimulus for renewable energy projects, new protection for wilderness areas, and a ban on oil and gas drilling in some on and off-shore areas - much still needs to be done.

The long-awaited cap-and-trade bill - aimed at cutting emissions by 17 per cent by 2020, and 83 per cent by 2050 - is still being debated by the House of Representatives, amid claims by Republicans that it will cost too many jobs.

Obama missed an opportunity to take a global leadership role on the environment at December's climate change conference in Copenhagen.

Despite high hopes of a worldwide agreement aimed at cutting emissions and staving off global warming, the US President and his counterparts failed to sign up to a binding deal.

Long the holy grail of US Democrats, universal healthcare was a central plank of Obama's election campaign.

In his address to a joint session of Congress a month after his inauguration, the new president again insisted it was one of his top priorities.

"The cost of our health care has weighed down our economy and the conscience of our nation long enough. So let there be no doubt, healthcare reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year," he said.

In the months since then, the US health system has been the subject of long, angry and divisive debates in both houses.

In what could be the biggest shakeup of the sector since the 1960s, a 10 year, US$900 billion bill has finally been pieced together.

If passed, it will mean that the estimated 46 million Americans without health insurance will finally get the healthcare they need.

But in trying to please those from the whole political spectrum, the bill may end up pleasing no-one: liberal Democrats complain that it does not contain a public option, and Republicans fear the new system will damage health insurance companies.

And if the Democrats lose the ultra-safe Senate seat occupied by the late healthcare advocate Ted Kennedy this week, the bill may not pass at all.

Obama stoked controversy during his election campaign by promising to engage in meaningful dialogue with America's adversaries: Iran, North Korea, and Cuba, among others.

The pledge was ridiculed by his opponents - including future Secretary of State Hillary Clinton - who accused him of being politically naive and reckless.

Obama did reach out directly to the Iranian people, bypassing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Months later, thousands of Iranians took to the streets of Tehran to protest at Ahmadinejad's re-election.

Iran's nuclear ambitions have continued to colour the country's relations with the West: In September, Iran revealed it had built a second nuclear plant at Qom, and pressure to increase sanctions is growing.

Since Obama came to power, the US has relaxed travel restrictions to Cuba, and begun allowing Cuban-Americans to send money to family there, but the majority of America's decades-long embargo on the island remain.

North Korea has continued to provoke Western anger by conducting nuclear, rocket and missile tests in defiance of international opinion.

Last August, former US President Bill Clinton travelled to Pyongyang to seek the release of two American journalists arrested after crossing the border into North Korea.

However, the awkward diplomatic visit does not appear to have done much to improve ties between the two nations.

Obama's highly symbolic first act as US President was to sign an order to close the controversial prison at Guantanamo Bay within 12 months.

A year on, it is still open, as wrangling continues over what to do with those inmates who remain in detention at the camp.

Obama's decision to allow Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, to be tried in Manhattan - just metres from the site of the Twin Towers - provoked widespread anger among New Yorkers.

And the threat to US security was highlighted dramatically on Christmas Day, when a Nigerian man tried to blow up a passenger plane bound for Detroit using explosives hidden in his underwear.

The investigation into the case of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab uncovered a string of embarassing blunders which meant the would-be bomber was not placed on a no-fly list - despite his own father telling US authorities he posed a threat.

US aviation security and the country's system of terrorist watch lists are under review as a result.

* Repairing America's image abroad: With his vastly different approach to politics than his predecessor, George W Bush, Obama remains more popular overseas than he is at home.

* Nobel Peace Prize: Obama was a surprise winner for the award this year, readily admitting he had done little so far to deserve the honour. Now he just has to live up to it.

* Cash for Clunkers: The buy-back system to get rid of old gas-guzzling cars was such a big hit it had to be ended early.

* Stem cell research: Obama overturned the Bush government's ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

* Closure of the prison at Guantanamo Bay: Obama's first act as President was to order the detention centre shut down - it is still open.

* Healthcare: One of Obama's top priorities, efforts to reform America's dysfunctional healthcare system remain mired in party political bickering.

* The economy: Obama inherited an economy on the verge of meltdown, and has worked hard to repair some of the damage, but US unemployment is very high, and confidence in the country's financial system remains dented.