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For all the talk of humility and working together, peering into the innards of the "lame duck" does not augur well for future co-operation. Two problems have already emerged. One is "inside the Beltway" stuff and largely symbolic. The other really matters.

On a trivial level, President Barack Obama's meeting with the leaders of Congress, planned for tomorrow, , pushed into the week after Thanksgiving.

The reason? Republican leaders were too busy to turn up for the summit. The White House is playing down any sense this is a snub, but it hardly counts as eagerness and respect. The president's spokesman Robert Gibbs has said, with considerable understatement, that it will be "test of whether we can work together". Just getting them in the same room seems hard enough.

The real threat, though, is the intention to undermine the president's ability to do deals with other world leaders. There is a real possibility he won't be able to get through Congress the treaty with Russia reducing the number of nuclear missiles. The threat, by , is to until the new Senate, when Mr Obama will need 14 Republican votes, not eight as at the moment. So, naturally, the White House wants it through this session, when it will be slightly easier, if not much.

It is furiously pushing the line that this is a matter of national security, that the improved relationship with Russia has helped across the foreign policy piste, from Iran to Afghanistan. It is ready to paint Republican opponents as putting America's interests in jeopardy for the sake of narrow political opposition.

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