Obama came into power when the USA had survived its hard times. Besides economic and financial crisis the country has been going through a huge social and cultural crisis. The 9/11 tragedy followed by everlasting, exhausting war campaigns undermined nation faith in invulnerability and world popularity of their country. The George W. Bush epoch had turned “the city on the hill” into the fortress under the siege where the government lost all the popular support and the population felt the surrounding world more and more hostile and unfriendly. Obama needed not only to carry out some social reforms popular among Democrats. He desperately needed a new national strategy which would determine domestic priorities as well as foreign policy guidelines. This new strategy was mentioned for the first time by Hillary Clinton and it was named the smart power.