Reply #3: As a non-resident, my view doesn't count for much...

[cherokeeprogressive]

but I'd counsel against it as well. Too much money out of the pockets of Chicagoans would be the number one reason. Chicago has issues that are much more important than hosting the Olympics would be the second reason.

I understand the connection between Chicago, the Olympic Games, and Obama, but would we as a country really ask a single region to take the hit so we could be proud and say "See! Chicago, Obama, Olympics! Huh, Huh? Get it? He's FROM there!"

Send the Olympic Games to Rio. Carnaval started in Rio in 1641. You think they don't know how to put on a show?

Lastly, in the previous century, the United States hosted the Olympic Games four times. American exceptionalism is a notion I see doggedly trashed here at DU, and rightly so. Let South America shine... Let them come together as a continent and burst upon the world stage as a stone cold playah.