The Obama presidency has become a medical drama.
The plot will hinge on whether this dashing statesman can resuscitate a debt-ridden patient.
In prescribing a $787bn “stimulus” package he has reached for the defibrillator and attempted to shock the US back to life.
He is at once trying to sustain the pulse of the capitalist system and the common yet utopian dreams of prosperity which unify America’s disparate citizens.
For generations they have tolerated the absence of an NHS and a weaker welfare state than other developed countries because the hope of a home and ultimate affluence seemed within the grasp even of immigrants on a paltry minimum wage.
Urban America has increasingly become a realm where you do not expect your neighbour to have the same first language or religion as yourself, but you are likely to have the common goal of providing your family with a comfortable house. This vision sends millions of people scrambling for coveted Green Cards.
But last year 2.3 million homes were repossessed. One in 54 households received an eviction order; 7.6% of workers outside the agricultural sector are unemployed.
The chances are that everyone will have an acquaintance or a family member who is experiencing the reality or the looming threat of repossession. Like a plague which is spreading through society, the fear of eviction is gnawing into the national consciousness.
Obama did much to salvage the concept of the American Dream from the mire of the dying days of the Bush administration simply by being elected. This was a rebranding moment which demonstrated that the United States still offers unprecedented opportunity to transcend racial and economic barriers.
But great marketing alone cannot save a creaking enterprise, and as America’s CEO he is striving to preserve the heart and lungs – the capitalist system and the gleeful ambition – which have kept this epic experiment of a country alive.
If he fails, calls for protectionism and an end to immigration will intensify and unsavoury demagogues will swim to the surface of national life. Attempts to unify a diverse country around a common language or creed will have ugly consequences.
This urgency is why Obama was prepared to construct a euphemistically-titled “stimulus” package which was guaranteed to rile Republicans and scotch hopes of a new bipartisan consensus.
A glass of lime cordial could be described as somewhat stimulating. But the president has served the economy a shot of the strongest tequila he could find in his cabinet.
This is not the type of “change” most people imagined when he brandished the ambiguous slogan at campaign rallies. His willingness to spend great mountains of taxpayers’ cash is seen by many on the Right as fundamentally anti-American.
But America is in the ER room, the blue light is flashing, and the young doctor from Illinois believes he has the right medicine.
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