Obama took over the reins amidst hope from his supporters that he would take the US to a new height, which is different from the Bush regime. Naturally he was not able to keep up to the expectations, which were very high. Both at home and abroad, the President continues to face some tough struggles.

During 2009, Obama had a very ambitious domestic agenda and took up issues like heath care, energy policy and tackling the financial mess. He had the biggest challenge of restoring the health of the economy and providing jobs for the Americans. He ended the year on a high note on the health care with the US Senate passing the bill. While Congress has passed several of Obama's agenda items including the expansion of the Children's Health Insurance Programme and the economic stimulus package. The President has acknowledged that the passage had not been as smooth as he expected. On the international side, he had travelled to as many as 20 countries in the first year and made his mark by brokering the Copenhagen accord on climate change.

While there may be mixed ratings for Obama at home, what kind of grade will he get on handling the Indo-US relations? After years of high and low, the Indo-US relations are at a high point thanks to the Bush administration's efforts in pushing the Indo-US nuclear deal. Amidst apprehensions, the Obama administration has built on that improved ties and hopes of cooperation on some important issues like climate change and countering terror. Obama began well as during the year, there had been many high-level visits from the US including that of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who personally delivered Obama's invitation to Singh. Obama has included some eminent people of Indian origin in his administration. The first state dinner hosted by the Obamas was the high point of Manmohan Singh's visit to Washington in November. At the banquet, Obama said all the right words like “My administration's commitment to India can be seen in our new strategic dialogue, which addresses the full range of challenges and opportunities before us.” Obama has accepted Singh's invitation to visit India; if he undertakes it early this year, it will be to the advantage of India, as it will be a first for a US President early in his regime.

Singh came back satisfied with much of his concerns allayed but there are still some which remain to be addressed. New Delhi is wary of Obama's Pakistan policy of providing greater military co-operation and economic aid to deal with terrorism in Pakistan and Afghanistan. There is a feeling that Obama has not yet evolved a comprehensive policy towards India.

Secondly, the American policy towards China has made New Delhi apprehensive of US intentions. Obama's trip to China in November and the signals emanating from his joint statement with the Chinese leaders had created concerns. Although India and China have been working closely on climate change issue, the friction between India and China remains. The new US thinking on China appears to be to persuade China to rein in Pakistan to check Al Qaeda. However, New Delhi thinks this will not work.

The third is the implementation of the Indo-US nuclear deal. Obama has picked up hawks who will take a hard line on nuclear issues. Moreover, his thrust has changed to nuclear non-proliferation. India wants transfer of dual use technology arguing that being strategic partners, restrictions on transfer do not make any sense. There is not much headway in this regard. Moreover, the limited liability bill is before Parliament while Obama has to get the US nod for reprocessing agreement once it is finalised. So the actual implementation of the deal may run into some more hurdles.

Fourth is about the Afghan policy. India wants the US to stay involved in Afghanistan arguing that a victory for Taliban would have a catastrophic effect on the world, more so for South Asia. Obama has taken a big gamble by increasing the number of troops to Afghanistan at the same time promising it was not an open-ended thing and some troops would be coming home soon.

This does not mean that the Indo-US ties are nor improving. On the business side, on military cooperation, counter-terrorism and information sharing between India and the US, things are going ahead with full force. The atmospherics will be better if Obama decides to visit India in April. The feel -good factor is there despite the wrinkles. Therefore, Obama deserves at least a B grade for his handling of Indo-US relations. (IPA Service)