By Ming Jing

Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States at a crossroads of US history.

The first African-American president steps into the Oval Office when he, in his own words, inherits two wars, and an epochal financial and economic crisis.

Seldom has so much hope confronted so much anxiety when the American people stood in the eye of history and made an emphatic choice for change for themselves and the world.

"Obama's record approval ratings from the US public, (70 to 80 percent) in the presidential election, is a triumph of American voters' vision of national redemption and reconciliation," said Tao Wenzhao, director of the Institute of American Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Those numbers have risen during the 77-day transition period as Obama has unveiled his cabinet appointments.

Some of that approbation derives from the bipartisan flavor of the people he has selected.

By keeping on Robert Gates, the Republican Pentagon chief, and offering the most prized cabinet job to Hillary Clinton, his former bitter rival in the Democratic primaries, Obama has put together a team which has impressed almost everyone with its caliber and centrism.

His choices to incorporate all types of opinion and adversary into his cabinet offer some clues as to how he intends to govern, according to Fu Mengzi, assistant president of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations.

In Audacity of Hope, Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, Obama wrote: "I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views."

Still, analysts worry the US government is up to its nose in debt, which will put Obama's domestic and foreign policies in a suffocating bind.

Foremost on Obama's agenda is the worst recession in generations, where his domestic and international priorities intersect.

The immediate task is daunting - he will be compelled to take a series of weighty decisions to stimulate the economy at home, while also taking the lead in revamping the global financial system.

One thing seems certain: The meltdown is going to hang over at least the first 18 months of the Obama presidency.

Clear hints of how he plans to tackle his first 100 days have been given as he has vowed a massive economic package to jolt the country out of a severe downturn and restore trust in the financial system.

The new administration would save or create at least 3 million jobs over the next two years through a fiscal stimulus package centering on tax cuts and public works spending.

Contrary to the view that the crisis will force him to shelve expensive campaign promises to reform healthcare and upgrade infrastructure, Obama is determined to extend health insurance to millions who have negligible cover, enhance infrastructure and invest in energy-saving technologies.

Despite the priority of short-term economic stimulus, Obama said his team would also tackle reforming the social security retirement system and put a down payment on some of the structural problems in economy.

While perceiving crisis as a chance to accelerate such plans, he has also been talking down expectations, warning things could get worse before they get better and saying recovery is not going to happen overnight.

Goldman Sachs economists expect the stimulus to end the recession in the second half of 2009, but the unemployment rate to keep rising through late 2010. Experts stressed that the unemployment rate is a lagging indicator, falling only after a recovery is well under way.

Alongside job creation, the Obama administration will make "financial repair" to restore the flow of credit a priority.

With some of the nation's biggest banks under intense strain, he may face tough decisions about redesigning the bailout strategy even as more money is being poured in.