He was cited in the pre and post speeches. He was perpetually talked about in private. He was routinely second-guessed. But the "round table" discussions, with the purpose of bringing consensus and cohesion to the task of tackling the ills of the world economy, resembled a grand dinner party at which the chief guest politely sent his apologies and left his seat symbolically empty. This is not Mr Obama's fault.

The American constitution purposely left a hiatus between election and inauguration – which, until the 20th Amendment in 1930, actually stretched from November until March – to ensure the counting and re-counting of votes and the orderly transition of power.

What it does, however, is create a void through which the President-in-waiting impotently waits while the occupant of the Oval Office ostensibly has his hands on the levers and pulleys of Government; in this case, that lamest of lame ducks, George W Bush. The G20 leaders had to carry on regardless, but what was said and decided among them requires Mr Obama's seal to give it legitimacy and impetus. The 11-page statement that the meeting produced was full of woolly rhetoric, as if to justify the air tickets, and pitifully bereft on comforting detail. Of course, it made the right promises: a commitment to stimulate growth and reform the financial markets. But nothing in it will lift the spirits of anyone now fearing for their jobs, homes and general financial well being.

Worse still, the discrepancy between the views of the G20 and the reality facing ordinary working men and women is starker than ever. While Gordon Brown talks of the "route map" that the G20 has loftily created – another typically vacuous sound bite – grass roots evidence at home bleakly contradicts him.

Figures from the Local Government Association reveal steepling unemployment across Yorkshire. The CBI forecasts the recession will span the whole of 2009, like a long fiscal winter. And the number of businesses shutting or down-sizing and laying staff off grows daily. Even Mr Brown's tax cuts may not be sufficient to rescue the worst affected.

So, like so many other summits, the latest in Washington will be quickly forgotten; this one more quickly than most, in fact, as Mr Obama pieces together his administration and the lights dim on Mr Bush's unproductive years.

The current edition of Time magazine portrays Mr Obama as FDR on its cover. It is apt only in the sense that when the G20 gathers again in April, the new President will have to help forge a New Deal. But goodness knows what state the world will be in by then.