Okay, so Obama is in. It's what every sane person on the planet wanted. Hopefully now the States can begin trying to claw us all back from the abyss that the Bush administration has happily nudged us towards for the past eight years. But we must remain judicious and not allow ourselves to be swept up in a wave of euphoria that will inevitably leave us disappointed later on. In convincing the general American public to vote for him, Obama had to temper some of his more outrageous (left-wing) views. Let us hope that now that he is in power, he will not only come off the fence on certain issues... but come off on the right side.

MISSILE DEFENCE

Missile defence has been lining the pockets of the arms industry since 1946 (the US has spent between $120bn and $150bn on the programme since Ronald Reagan re-launched it in 1983), despite overwhelming proof that it does not and will never work effectively. Barack is a bit vague on the issue. He has both supported and condemned it.

French President Sarkozy recently proposed a truce in the row between the States and Russia over US plans for a missile defence system in Europe, proposing a summit next year on a new pan-European security system, after a suspension of activity from both Moscow and Washington.

Obama has made no commitments, saying only that he will review America’s national security priorities, including the Bush Administration’s plans to site ten interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic.

IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

Obama has rightly attacked the deadly and costly war in Iraq, only to propose a similar surge of forces and resources in Afghanistan. He proposes to add about 7,000 troops to the current U.S. force of 32,000, bringing these reinforcements from Iraq. He has also threatened unilateral attacks on high-value terrorist targets in Pakistan as they become exposed, "if Pakistan cannot or will not act" against them.

DEATH PENALTY

Obama wrote in his memoir that he thinks the death penalty "does little to deter crime," but now supports capital punishment in cases "so heinous, so beyond the pale, that the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage by meting out the ultimate punishment."

As with many of his policies, his position was trimmed to suit his move from community activist to presidential candidate. So, while he was at one stage against the death penalty, in a country that is 65 percent behind maintaining capital punishment, he was forced to reposition himself to support it in certain cases.

OFFSHORE DRILLING

Obama supports a ten-year, $150 billion fund for biofuels, wind, solar, plug-in hybrids, clean-coal technology and other ‘climate-friendly’ measures. The biofuels part of this policy has come under fire from environmentalists. Environmental guru George Monbiot has been very vocal about the destructive farming methods used to produce biofuels and the vast amounts of arable farmland needed, which would be much better used to feed the world’s starving millions. Read our Greenpeace report on frontline action against biofuel farming in this issue.

During the past eight years, the Bush administration has quietly opened a vast swath of offshore Alaska (an area more than twice the size of New York State) to drilling. Environmentalists insist that the new administration must prohibit drilling in environmentally sensitive areas, including polar bear habitats and whale migration routes. However, Obama has changed his position on this issue, initially saying that he would not consider offshore drilling and then stating that “I am willing to consider it if it's necessary to actually pass a comprehensive plan." Friends of the Earth have criticised the switch, saying that “it is not a real solution to the energy crisis that is devastating our environment and our economy."

GAY MARRIAGE

Obama opposed a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage - voting against a Federal Marriage Amendment and opposing the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. He has the approval of many in the gay community in the Sates, as he supported gay rights during his Illinois Senate tenure and sponsored legislation in Illinois that would ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

However, Barack’s stance during his presidential campaign was that although he supports civil unions, he is against gay marriage, saying in an interview with MTV that "marriage is between a man and a woman". So although gay marriages would not be recognised in the same way that straight marriages are, Obama is quick to point out that these civil unions would “provide legal rights to same-sex couples (so) that they can visit each other in the hospital if they get sick; (so) they can transfer property to each other. If they've got benefits, they can make sure those benefits apply to their partners."