Numerous formulations can be concocted to show how and why Barack Obama has come to be president.  But economic crisis, conspiracies, unhappy liberals, and a seething mainstream media refusing to report missteps on the new president's journey to the White House can't compare with Vladimir Anokhin's article (evidently translated from Russian) on Pravda's website:

USA's new President Barack Obama is taking office January 20. George W. Bush was a big headache for the whole world, although his successor does not seem to be a man who can become the savior of the great nation. Those thinking that the USA will have many positive changes in its politics after Obama comes to power think it wrong. It touches upon the US-Russian relations too.

It would be wrong to think that Obama will mark the beginning of the new era in US politics. Obama became the president because one needed a scapegoat during hard times of the crisis and the new economic model, which the crisis may eventually trigger. The Republicans simply decided to move over to make Obama become an intermediate figure. John McCain was too conservative to win. If Obama does not manage to extricate the nation from the crisis in two or three years, the Reps will unveil their real candidate, and Obama's presidency will finish earlier than expected.

It is hard to say that Obama is Russia's friend. He reproached Russia for its "aggressive politics" against Georgia and other neighboring states. In addition, he said that Russia's fast economic growth and its rich energy resources made Russia very self-confident.