As he takes the stage to address the United Nations for the first time Wednesday, Obama will face world leaders — adversaries and allies alike — whose rebukes of the new American president serve as reminders that the world’s differences with the United States transcend who is in the White House.

European nations have refused to send significant numbers of new troops to aid the U.S.-led war effort in Afghanistan. Few countries have agreed to accept detainees held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Scottish officials ignored Obama’s plea to keep the Lockerbie bomber in prison, and U.S. efforts to head off a coup in Honduras were ineffective. North Korea continues to develop nuclear weapons, Iran may be doing so, and Middle East leaders have rebuffed Obama’s efforts at peacemaking.

“When he came into office, there was kind of a sigh of relief around the world because he wasn’t Bush,” said Leslie H. Gelb, a former president of the Council on Foreign Relations. “What was he going to do to solve these problems? They haven’t seen that yet.”