In exactly two weeks’ time, the free world gets a new leader. To sense a possible answer to the question now sitting on everyone’s lips — is he the real thing? — take a look at the new president’s transition website www.change.gov.

It is, as Richard Reeves notes on Real Clear Politics, “an amazing political document”. What you won’t find on this website is political hype or bravado.

What you will find is The Obama Agenda — specific, detailed policy commitments by the new administration listed under 23 different categories: Civil Rights, Defence, Disabilities, Economy, Education, Energy & Environment, Ethics, Family, Fiscal, Foreign Policy, Health Care, Homeland Security, Immigration, Iraq, Poverty, Rural, Seniors & Social Security, Service, Taxes, Technology, Urban Policy, Veterans and Women.

“The point is”, says Richard Reeves, “that he will be a new kind of president, a man of his time, a new time”. If this extraordinary website with its depth and breadth of accountability is a pointer to the Obama notion of a new kind of presidency, Reeves is right.

Fourteen more sleeps to go.