It was billed as the first time that a sitting President of the United States had appeared as a guest on a late-night talk show. After Barack Obama’s performance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, there’s also a good chance that it was the last.

Granted, the President, as always, was charming. Granted, he lit up the studio with that Hollywood-grade smile. Yes, he explained the AIG crisis in clear, measured terms, and wisely backed away from a congressional attempt to impose a 90 per cent tax on unpopular bankers. (“I think that the best way to handle this is to make sure that you’ve closed the door before the horse gets out of the barn,” he said, calmly. “What happened here was that the money had already gone out, and people are scrambling to try to find ways to get back.” All in all, “Oboe One” reminded several million Americans why they voted for him.

Then . . . he made a joke about the Special Olympics.

It seemed to pop out of nowhere. One minute he was being all warm and self-deprecating, the next he was making fun of the disabled.

Even Leno, whom many suspect of being a Republican, appeared not to believe what he was hearing, especially after having gone to such efforts to ingratiate himself with the Commander-in-Chief (“How cool is it to fly in Air Force One?” To which Mr Obama replied, “I personally think it’s pretty cool. Especially because they give you the jacket with the seal on it.”) You had to feel sorry for the man: that part of the conversation had been designed to allow Mr Obama to play down his preelection plans to rip out the White House bowling alley and install a basketball court – a move that might be seem as profligate.

“I imagine the bowling alley has been just burnt and closed down,” said Leno. “No, no,” replied Obama. “I have been practising . . . I bowled a 129.” “That’s very good, Mr President.”

And then it happened. Mr Obama said: “It’s like – it was like the Special Olympics, or something.” And in the instant he said it, you could see a flash of realisation in his eyes: I’ve just mocked the disabled. On live TV.

The White House spin machine cranked into overdrive; an official statement quickly followed: “He thinks that the Special Olympics are a wonderful programme that gives an opportunity to shine to people with disabilities from around the world.”

Before the taped programme was broadcast Mr Obama apologised to Tim Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics. “He expressed his disappointment in a way that was very moving. He expressed that he did not intend to humiliate this population,” Mr Shriver said yesterday.

For Mr Obama there was at least one upside: he finally achieved what has eluded him since he became President: for at least one news cycle, no one was talking about AIG or the Dow Jones industrial average.

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