A year ago, on a night like this, flush from a convincing electoral victory, President George W Bush committed himself to ending tyranny in the world, aggressively pursuing the war on terrorism wherever it led and, at home, executing the most radical reform of American state pensions – the pillar of the nation’s welfare state - in 40 years.

These bold objectives were fitting for a President, who, against the odds and despite an initial controversial election win five years ago, had been commander of his fate as well as that of his country and even the world.

But last night, with Mr Bush’s fifth State of the Union address, the US got its first clear glimpse of just how scaled down his presidential objectives have become.

Before yesterday, Mr Bush’s four previous State of the Unions have focused on the grand challenges facing the country.

In 2002 it was the post-September 11 world, and a gauntlet laid down before the "axis of evil" countries. In 2003, it was the sombre lead-in to war with Iraq. In 2004, the case for his re-election in, and last year it was the startlingly bold agenda for his second term.

Last night, the plans looked a bit deflated.

Sure, as he sought to rouse the nation in the biggest set-piece speech of the year, there was still the commitment to seeing things through in Iraq, promoting democracy in the world and reforming America’s economy. But the specifics, the headlines, seemed oddly downsized:

An Advanced Energy Initiative – with the grand goal of ending America’s dependence on foreign oil, but whose main proposal amounted to a small increase in federal spending on alternative fuels.

An American Competitiveness Initiative, supposed to target improvements in the US ability to meet global challenges, but which amounted to no more than a tweak upwards in funding for the training of teachers.

Affordable and Accessible Health Care, which included plans for tax breaks for Americans to save more for their own medical insurance.

The contrast was striking. For five straight years Mr Bush has held the political initiative – from his first turbulent year, through September 11 and Iraq and onto his triumphant re-election a year ago.

But after a catastrophic first year of his second term, with less than three years to go now in his presidency, with foreign policy options constrained by the massive US commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan, and even with his lofty ideal of freedom undermined somewhat by the democratic triumph of some distinctly unsavoury characters in the Middle East, Mr Bush has had to scale down his ambitions.

Worse than that; the political failures of the last year have forced the President to cede the initiative in many areas of public policy and even national leadership to other sources of power –most notably the congress he was addressing last night.

With this a critical election year, and with a presidential election campaign set to begin in earnest almost immediately after, even members of the President’s own Republican Party in Congress have begun to challenge Mr Bush’s policies – on tax and spending, on immigration and , on US troop commitments in Iraq.

Last night Mr Bush was forced virtually to plead with Congress not to scale back US forces: "Members of Congress: however we feel about the decisions and debates of the past, our nation has only one option: We must keep our word, defeat our enemies, and stand behind the American military in its vital mission. "

Of course, it is not all over for Mr Bush as America’s political leader. Yesterday’s Senate confirmation of Samuel Alito as a Supreme Court justice emphasised how a determined president armed with the tools of smart political strategy can still prevail.

But the path Mr Bush can now follow is dramatically narrowed by the press of events and the mistakes of his last year. As last night’s theatrics reminded us, with their traditional display of all three branches of the American government arrayed just as the founding fathers envisaged, the fight for political power in Washington is a highly competitive one.

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