It was only natural that Barack Obama, a president whose election was one of the most revolutionary events in American history, should fill his first 100 days in office with a breathtaking, all-embracing agenda. These are times of trial and upheaval that call for such daring. Strikingly energetic and self-confident, Obama has set out on a titanic journey to remake America's economy and redress a broken and dysfunctional international system.

It is perhaps especially in Obama's domestic policy - the shift to a more social-democratic tax system and universal health care - that one can best see the new president's ideological drive. But emphasizing the reduction of social inequalities does not sit easily with America's profoundly individualistic ethos, and the attempt to...