Barack Obama has already made more news-grabbing statements in the run-up to Tuesday's inauguration ceremony than many US Presidents make in their first year. Headlines like 'Obama urges action on the economy', 'Obama promises new Iran tack' and 'Obama to act on Guantanamo' have been lapped up by a media thirsty to see him become a success.
He has been doing this not from the lush surroundings of the Rose Garden, but from an austere room devoid of almost anything other than a desk, computer and basketball. This has become known as his transition office ever since he was propelled into the world's most powerful post in what has been dubbed as the most historic - news of which new US President is not? - election in modern history.
Mr Obama recognised immediately that rather than beginning his first 100 days on January 20 as most US Presidents do every four years, his will almost be coming to an end. America's predicament was deemed so dire, and hopes of him being the man to pull the country out of it so high, that he got down to business on November 5.
In an interview with Time magazine before Christmas, Mr Obama set out the major pillars by which he believes he will be judged half way through his first term: "On (domestic) policy, have we helped this economy recover from what is the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression?... On foreign policy, have we restored a balance between the demands of our security and our Constitution? Have we rebuilt alliances around the world effectively?"
Mr Obama will be going to Washington following the footsteps of Abraham Lincoln, who abolished slavery in the US. He is retracing the final stages of the train trip Lincoln made to assume the presidency, appearing at the former president's memorial for a televised concert, taking the oath of office on a bible used by Lincoln and attending an inaugural luncheon that will feature favourite Lincoln foods.
Yet it is with Franklin Delano Roosevelt - the polio-afflicted president credited with masterminding America's emergence from the Great Depression - that comparisons are more likely to be drawn.
In this respect, the US Constitution and its 27 amendments may cause him a problem. The carefully constructed checks and balances that have guarded America's political system for over 200 years are well suited to good governance. They are a little shaky, however, in times of crisis.
Mr Roosevelt managed to get round this handicap. He persuaded Congress to virtually cede power for 100 days to enable him to push through vital measures that formed the bedrock of his New Deal aimed at getting the economy on its feet again; he managed to manipulate the composition of the Supreme Court to ensure his measures were not declared unconstitutional; and he took advantage of the economic benefits brought by the threat of war in Europe and beyond.
Mr Obama is unlikely to be aided by any of these factors. He must, instead, rely on the people he has appointed to get the job done. And he must rely on himself to convince everyone he is doing the right thing.
As the eminent political scientist Richard Neustadt famously wrote when he first tackled the issue in the 1960s, the real power of the presidency is the power to persuade - to persuade Congress, the judiciary and his own executive which is invariably made up of strong, independent minds.
Mr Obama must also be able to persuade the people - the source of power over everything else in the US - not just today, when he has them in his pocket, but tomorrow and throughout his term. To do this he has to listen, which is the basic human function his predecessor so tragically forgot to exercise.