Faced with the urgent necessity of alleviating so many Americans suffering, Obama knows only too well that the audacity of hope will not be sufficient to the immensity of the challenges confronting him.

However, the United Nations is small compared with the immensity of the issues it is expected to deal with, and countries must strengthen it by providing the resources it needs to resolve efficiently the issues for which it is responsible in all fields political, economic, cultural, social and technological.