A gracious/politic statement, which was followed by a few minutes of spin (not seen here) about the new unemployment numbers and, er, no question-and-answer period. I guess we’ll have to wait for the next ObamaCare “if you like your plan, you can keep your plan” singalong primetime presser for his thoughts on what happened in Copenhagen.

The British press isn’t waiting around, though. Tough stuff:

It was only the Olympic Games, the White House will argue — not a high-stakes diplomatic gamble with North Korea. It is always worthwhile when Mr Obama sells America to the rest of the world, David Axelrod, his chief political adviser, said today. But that argument will fall on deaf ears in the US. Americans want their presidents to be winners.

Mr Obama was greeted — as usual — like a rock star by the IOC delegates in Copenhagen — then humiliated by them. Perception is reality. A narrow defeat for Chicago would have been acceptable — but the sheer scale of the defeat was a bombshell, and is a major blow for Mr Obama at a time when questions are being asked about his style of governance…

This has all added to the perception that Mr Obama’s soaring rhetoric — which captured the imagination during last year’s election — is simply not enough when it comes to confronting the myriad challenges of the presidency. His spectacular Olympic failure will only add to that.

Elsewhere, the boss has a little fun by jokingly playing the race card on Obama’s defenders. Exit quotation from former Olympian “Rowdy” Gaines: “Maybe there is some hangover from politics, from the last eight years.”