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The president looked as cool and as confident as ever, but perhaps there was just the slight air in his words of a schoolboy explaining why his efforts - judged mediocre by many - were in fact exceptional.

Climate change, of course, is the subject where other world leaders might give him a B minus for effort. Mr Obama said that, since he had come to power, the United States had done more than ever before in its history to deal with man-made climate change.

His list: the largest-ever investment in renewable energy, billions spent in cutting energy waste, the first national policy aimed at cutting greenhouse gases from cars, carbon capture and a promise to work with other countries to cut subsidies for fossil fuels.

Afterwards, the US special envoy on climate change, Todd Stern, said that there had been a "seismic turn" in the policy of the United States, and that the aim was to have a law, not a mere European-style aspiration, to cut greenhouse gases.

Mr Stern's remarks came in a briefing after the president's speech ,when I asked him about the disappointment felt by politicians' in Europe. He said that the EU was "obsessively focused" on measuring reductions against a 1990 baseline and that the United States was making "every bit as much" effort as European countries and in some case not only matched them, but went further. It was, he said, in "an absolutely strong position."

But what about that law?

The crucial bill is held up in the Senate and the president's advisor on climate change, Carol Browner, admitted that healthcare had eaten up the time and effort they had wanted to use to get this law passed, but it was very very important to Democratic leaders in the senate to get it passed.

The president's second message, perhaps a more traditional one, was that big developing nations should do their bit.

What was perhaps new was his reassurance to smaller countries that the US recognised that they were in a different position and that they could therefore expect some help.

In general Mr Stern rather played down the Chinese remarks, suggesting that without knowing the specific numbers it was difficult to see how significant it was.

So - is the US doing enough, or indeed too much, and what do you think about the Senate holding up a worldwide deal?

UPDATE: There was a final question to Mr Stern: were the 20 to 30-car motorcades snarling up the New York traffic helping matters? He joked that the UN should have a five-year target to get electric cars. Or maybe it wasn't a joke...

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