Barely a year after his election, he was campaigning not for himself but for his adopted hometown. Yet as President Obama pitched Chicago’s bid to host the Summer Games of 2016 on Friday — unsuccessfully, it turned out — he put his own credibility on the line as well. Obviously, it was disappointing,” said David Axelrod, a senior adviser to the president. “We wanted Chicago to get this. It didn’t work out, but it was worth the effort.”

Arriving here after an all-night flight, Obama swept into a convention hall in the Danish capital and appealed to the IOC to choose “that most American of American cities”.

Several hours later, Chicago became the first city to be eliminated. The news reached Obama aboard Air Force One — somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean — as he flew back to Washington. It is one of the President’s biggest losses yet.

His decision to come personally was a risky gamble predicated on the theory that Obama’s star power overseas — “the best brand in the world,” as his advisers have put it — was luminescent enough to sway just enough committee members to make the difference.

And the prospect of winning was too irresistible. After all, Obama had envisioned the day when he could welcome the world to his hometown, never mind that small matter of re-election. “In 2016, I’ll be wrapping up my second term as President,” he said in June 2008. “So I can’t think of a better way than to be marching into Washington Park... as President of the United States and announcing to the world: Let the Games begin!”