This is not a snide remark against the colour of the skin of the charismatic American President. Neither is it a question that just came to mind. I felt compelled to write this article after having been intrigued by an interesting interview that the Oxford historian and Europhile Timothy Garton Ash gave to Der Spiegel Online International when he concluded that Mr Obama is certainly a European.

What triggered Prof. Garton Ash to pass these comments was his theory - which also seems to be common knowledge by now - that while Europe slips to the right, the United States, under Mr Obama, is discovering the social market economy and is also slipping to the left in American terms.

Bearing in mind that at least 15 per cent of the new European Parliament will consist of right-wing extremists, protest parties and, yes, even joke parties, this means that we are deluding ourselves if we believe that the temptation of xenophobia and national populism no longer exists, and one should not be surprised to see these forces being strengthened in the course of a major economic crisis.

Prof. Garton Ash has so much faith in the Obama project and is so disillusioned with the recent political trends in Europe because he has always argued in past and current writings that we must make the social market economy credible again as the central solution for the middle class.

The more people feel frustrated about seeing meaningful work being created for the majority of society, the more they are inclined to tilt towards right-wing extremism.

I know European elections might not necessarily pave the way for the same trends or patterns in general elections, but a mere look at the UK is quite alarming, what with the BNP having won its first two seats and the anti-European UK Independence Party having even won more votes than Labour.

I personally find that most unsettling as a moderate, liberal oriented social democrat.

Prof. Garton Ash thinks that Mr Obama is certainly European particularly in terms of his system of values, and also because the middle class in the US has experienced the brutality and injustice of the unbridled Anglo-Saxon free market economy first hand; in the healthcare system, for example.

Although there are many deliverables that still have to come on stream in the US, in the past months we have already seen that the picture is starting to come into focus.

Mr Obama has managed to put together a coalition that so far has held together rather well. This is true in the country at large, where his approval ratings, though predictably down a few points from the very early days, are still more than sufficiently high.

To generate a sense of good feeling and optimism at a time of depression is no joke.

With healthcare reform and climate change legislation being the two largest domestic items that will be coming along this summer and fall, this should consolidate the President's base of support even further.

More importantly, the man has shown the ability to walk the tightrope.

He may not always please liberals and centrists but he still has the basic trust of both.

Even when he falls short of producing immediate positive results, Mr Obama continues to remain visibly active.

His major speech in Cairo sent positive signals right across the Arab world - from Egypt itself to moderate states nearby and to a number of Gulf states.

He continues to press as hard as possible on as many fronts as he can.

Making reforms in many countries is tough enough, but in order to succeed they must work. And this is indeed the US President's most important litmus test to come.

On the other hand, even if certain Bills will turn out to be substantially weaker than envisaged or hoped for, if the slightly watered down climate Bill gets the necessary seal of approval, according to its proponents the net results will be the equivalent of taking 50 million cars off the road every year for 10 years.

There was a time when Europeans felt so detached from US politics. As things have evolved and as they stand today, we are all envious that the new American way of doing politics has not managed to ingrain itself yet into the current European mindset.

Mr Brincat is a Labour member of Parliament.

brincat.leo@gmail.com, www.leobrincat.com