Anita DeFrantz, an American IOC member, was astonished that the grace embodied by the first couple wasn’t enough to win over the Olympic bureaucracy. “I hate the fact that these elegant people were here and then our country got treated that way,” she complained. The “elegance” of Obama was supposedly one of his most bankable traits. Yet so far, Obama’s high global approval ratings, while satisfying for his ego, have yet to redound to the nation’s benefit.

That the president’s personal popularity and persuasive capabilities will work wonders in solving the world’s problems is a conceit fundamental to this administration’s strategic calculus. Yet the Olympics debacle is just the latest casualty of the president’s hubris. Despite their love of Obama, our European allies have yet to step up to the plate in Afghanistan, where the very success of the mission now hangs in the balance.

The Russians are still occupying parts of Georgia, and neither they nor the Chinese have proven particularly helpful in leveling sanctions on Iran, whose leaders have also proven impervious to Obama’s charisma.

Nor have Obama’s personal approval ratings translated into domestic policy accomplishments.