If at first you don't succeed...you can try again. Yes you can!

Barack Obama was forced to repeat his presidential oath the morning after because of a fumble by the chief justice the day earlier.

The time lag between the two oaths could have been a chastening experience for the new president: that the most powerful man on this planet was as vulnerable to slip-ups as anybody else is a lesson best learnt early, for time is likely to be Obama's biggest obstacle if the colossal expectations vested in him are an indication.

By becoming the first African American president of the United States, Obama has overturned the prejudices of centuries; now he is expected to work bigger miracles in which, as a colleague pointed out, walking on water, parting an ocean or resurrecting a corpse may only be par for the course.

To name just a few, he has to rebuild America's economy, redefine his adversaries before he resumes the fight on terror started by his predecessors, spearhead the environmental protection of this planet, establish a global power grid in which tensions are lowered not raised, restore sanity on this planet.

A mere mix-up in taking the oath is not quite such a disaster, therefore. In any case, every new president of the United States utters the same thing before taking office.

Ultimately, as the experience with George W Bush has shown, it is deeds more than words that matter. What Obama does from here is going to be the real story of our times.