Face to face with US 'rock star' president

Obama began the interview without the clutch of aides we might have expected. His spokesman Robert Gibbs wandered in late in the interview to perch on the desk. This was obviously a president who didn't need help dealing with our questions.

We asked about China's currency, America's trade gap and China's holdings of U.S. debt. Obama warned of "enormous strains" on relations between the world's most powerful nations if those imbalances were not fixed.

Any mistakes?

With time running out, we moved on to nuclear disarmament.

Perhaps it was my imagination, or was the president a little awkward when we mentioned his Nobel prize -- an award many saw as premature -- and suggested he wasn't making a whole load of progress in stemming the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea?

"Well, first of all, I think it's very important to say that if by lack of progress you're suggesting we have not already eliminated nuclear weapons from the face of the earth in the first nine months of my administration, then that's true," he said, with a smile.

The interview was almost over. The president kept talking and was passed a note. Gibbs hovered. We had a chance for a final question.

Would the president admit to any mistakes? Bush had famously been stumped by the same question at the end of his first term, saying he could not think of any.

"Oh, we make at least one mistake a day," Obama said smoothly, to laughter.

"I don't think we've made big mistakes. I don't think we've made fundamental mistakes," he said. "There are constant sort of things that I think have proven unnecessary distractions. But in terms of the core decisions that we've made ... I feel very good about our progress."

And then our time was up.

"Next time we see each other I'm sure I will have all the nuclear stuff solved," Obama joked as we left.