THE sun was shining for Barack Obama’s first visit to Scotland. The day started with a round of golf at St Andrews before a charity dinner speech in Edinburgh last night.

Everywhere the former president goes he exudes a charm and sense of engagement with those he meets that stands in marked contrast to the incumbent US president Donald Trump.

Earlier this week TV news cameras caught Mr Trump appearing to shove aside Dusko Markovic, the prime minister of Montenegro, to enable him to be at the front of a group of Nato leaders.

By contrast, pictures of Mr Obama showed him chatting and cracking jokes with caddies, tourists and members of the public during his time in Scotland.

For many who watched these images, the contrast served as an unavoidable reminder of the differences between the two men, their personal styles, their relations with America’s allies and the values they embody. Where Mr Obama shines and sprinkles political stardust, Mr Trump stumbles through like a bull in a china shop.

That much was evident again this week from Jerusalem to Berlin. Signing the guestbook after his visit to Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum, Mr Trump left a note that one commentator described as being “basically just what teenagers write in each other’s high school yearbooks”.

Mr Trump’s blithe, almost chipper note, once again stood in sharp juxtaposition to that of his presidential predecessor, whose sombre contribution during his visit to the memorial some time ago hit the right note in terms of gravity and deep reflection.

The inescapable fact is that President Trump, with most of his signature campaign promises having either stalled or failed, has not been able to get out of Mr Obama’s shadow. Political shadow boxing, too, has become a hallmark of both men’s response to each other. Rarely is it overt. During his appearance in Berlin this week Mr Obama managed to slip in a scarcely concealed dig without mentioning Mr Trump by name.

“We can’t hide behind a wall,” said Mr Obama, speaking of the problem of migration, alluding to Mr Trump’s plan to build a wall along the Mexican border.

Where in Germany and Scotland people revelled in the chance to see and hear Mr Obama, in Brussels, at the new Nato headquarters, Mr Trump’s European allies winced as he berated them for not paying their way in defence, at the expense of the American taxpayer.

No doubt during his presidency Mr Obama could have made the same point but never in the same way. So overcast is the Trump presidency by the omnipresence of Mr Obama that some in the US have suggested the existence of a ‘shadow White House’ left behind by the outgoing Commander in Chief.

Far from leaving ‘mischief makers’ behind, the most likely explanation is that there are simply those in the US political establishment who remain determined to curtail a presidency seemingly hell bent in casting their nation in such a bad light.

Yesterday in Scotland there were no such shadows, only blazing sunshine for the 44th president of the United States.