When Barack Obama was sworn in as U.S. president a little less than a year ago, it wasn't just American voters who paused to watch history unfold.

Millions of people around the world celebrated the beginning of his presidency, convinced that the man offered renewed hope for a world grappling with a financial crisis, climate change and terror threats.

But nearly 12 months in, Obama has failed to capitalize on the widespread enthusiasm that surrounded his campaign for the White House, say experts, who argue that he must establish a clearer vision for the country if he is to re-gain support from politicians and the public alike.

In February, his first full month in office, a Gallup poll found Obama's job approval rating was a whopping 69 per cent.

High approval ratings are fairly predictable early in a presidency. But Obama's sky-high numbers reflected the fact that he was riding the wave of his inspiring "Yes We Can" campaign that led to record voter turnout, particularly among minorities.

By November, his job approval rating had dropped to 51 per cent, according to Gallup, with other polls putting the president below 50 per cent.

A precipitous drop in approval ratings after one year in office is not unheard of for a U.S. president (after one year, Bill Clinton's job approval rating was 48 per cent, tied with Ronald Reagan and just behind Jimmy Carter at 55 per cent).

But Obama's rating likely reflects lukewarm support for the initiatives, such as health care reform and ramping up the war in Afghanistan, that he has made a hallmark of his first year in office, says Lorenzo Morris, a political science professor at Howard University.

"He doesn't seem to have a compelling singular vision or set of visions that mobilize people," Morris told CTV.ca in a telephone interview from Washington. "In other words, for all of the magic of his campaign, he hasn't been able to carry the kind of enthusiasm into the presidency. Even those who lack campaign skills have sometimes had a couple of issues that they own and that they rally their party around."

While Obama wooed left-leaning Americans with talk of health-care reform, women's and gay rights, and changing course in Iraq and Afghanistan during his campaign, he has dithered on a number of these issues, which has alienated some of his most ardent supporters.

Women's groups are crying foul over attempts by Republican lawmakers to add amendments to the new health-care legislation that would restrict abortion funding, while gay rights groups are angry over Obama's apparent reluctance to repeal the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy that prevents gays from serving openly in the U.S. military.

Avis Jones-DeWeever, research director at the National Council of Negro Women, says many Americans saw his "gifts of persuasion" during his campaign, as he spoke passionately about issues such as health care. Many voters likely hoped he could use those same gifts on their behalf, she believes.

"In a sense too many people have made the mistake of assuming that a president is all-powerful. Yes, a president has the power of the bully pulpit that he can use to set the agenda and perhaps to sway the nation if the moment is right," Jones-DeWeever told CTV.ca in a telephone interview.

"But the reality is that he is but one person in a political system that relies on a House and a Senate and the executive branch. So he cannot unilaterally be all things to all people."

Some first-year victories

While Obama is grappling with a number of issues, he has had some successes in his first year in office.

Not long after he was sworn in as president, he issued an executive order to lift the ban on stem-cell research, had his choice for Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor, approved, and instructed his environmental advisers to overhaul his country's policies aimed at curbing climate change.

And while his $787 billion stimulus package was widely criticized as bloated and expensive, most experts credit Obama with pulling his country from the edge of economic disaster during the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

But perhaps his most notable achievement, says Jones-DeWeever, is the fact that Obama managed to dramatically improve the United States' image on the world stage.

"I think the best thing that he's done has been to a significant degree repair America's tattered image abroad," she said. "I think he's made tremendous bounds in that area, and I really think that is the biggest (reason for) his eventual acknowledgement in terms of the Nobel committee."

Oh yes, the Nobel committee. After less than a year in office, Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, shocking even his most ardent supporters, and even the winner himself.

Some analysts suggested the win could be attributed more to what Obama has yet to do than what he has already done, and experts agree he must take bold action to set his presidency back on track.

Obama must 'own' his presidency

According to Morris, Obama needs to show more conviction on issues he believes in, be it gay rights, health care or the prosecution of the war in Afghanistan, which will galvanize Democrats and woo independents for a strong base of support.

"There's very little enthusiasm," Morris said. "He's made enough commitments now so that I think in some ways he needs some reaffirmation of the left. He needs to tighten his success rate around getting the more progressive issues in place."

According to Jones-DeWeever, health care is not the issue that Obama can use to regain the "swagger" of his campaign.

He has been criticized for introducing his plan for overhauling health care and then promptly turning it over to Congress to amend at will.

Instead of focusing on health care, Obama should set his sights on the still-struggling economy, Jones-DeWeever says. Despite small signs of recovery in the U.S. economy, unemployment is still hovering around 10 per cent, which means the president can and should propose a bold job-creation program.

"I think what he needs to do is to really start off with something new, different, bold that comes directly from his hand, that comes directly from his desk," she says. "I would love to see that. I would love to see a more pro-active approach and for him to just assume more of a role of leader versus conciliator."

He also needs to secure a "cadre of ideologues" in Congress, people working alongside him and speaking out on behalf of his initiatives to help sell them to the American people, Morris says.

"He needs to start mobilizing and nourishing people in Congress who can be up front with him, alternative spokespersons, people who present his agenda," he says.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Obama must make use of the unprecedented mandate he was given a year ago, when more than 61 per cent of eligible voters turned out to cast their ballots, the most in a U.S. presidential election since 1968.

Polling data show he rallied record numbers of African-American and Latino voters, 95 per cent and 67 per cent of whom voted for him, respectively. He also won the vote of a majority of first-time voters.

"I think the biggest loss of opportunity for him was the fact that he came in under a crescendo of optimism and really momentum behind him to move this country in a very drastically different direction. And he had, frankly, an amazing mandate, and a mandate that we have not seen with a presidential election year in quite some time," Jones-DeWeever says.

Obama must reach out to those voters who swept him into office, particularly eligible voters who cast their ballots for the first time because of his candidacy, who are most at risk of becoming disillusioned with politics without motivation from their candidate.

"I would love to see him get a bit more swagger, a bit more fire, a bit more passion, and just sort of own his leadership. Take that mantle and run with it, because we are at a point in history where we really need that," Jones DeWeever says.

"We're not out of the woods yet in terms of our economy and if he wants to maintain his majorities in Congress and if he wants re-election, he needs to make sure that he indicates to those individuals who invested so much in him and believed in him so much that he understands why they believed in him and their investment in him was not for naught."