If it could not be Chicago.. I am glad its Rio..and glad the President went!

[Peacetrain]

If the President had not represented us there, and it went to Rio, there would have been a howl from all sides, because the other cities in contention had their heads of state going to the wall for them

If it had been a head to head with Chicago and Rio.. and Chicago took it, there would have been tremendous angst about South America once again being left out.

If Rio had taken it over Chicago, there would have been tremendous angst about our losing some great job opportunities..

Things work in balance for the best.

Congratulations Rio..

and

Congratulations our Hemispheres!!

North and South America will now begin the giant WOO HOO

[RagAss]

1. We placed 4th out of 4.

[Peacetrain]

3. That is fine..

[lapfog_1]

8. Was there some sort of prize for 2nd place?

an "attaboy" from the IOC?

[Peacetrain]

12. Something like that..

[timeforpeace]

27. I agree, it was good that he went, it was good that we lost. It's all good.

[closeupready]

2. Utter waste of time.

n/t

[Peacetrain]

5. So Chicago should not have even tried??

[closeupready]

21. No, not Chicago, waste of the President's time. Daley should have been doing it.

n/t

[lyonn]

30. They don't know Daley from Nightly

Obama spoke up for the U.S. and let the members know it was an important event and we were very interested. What is wrong with that? Next we will hear how much it cost for Obama to attend. Ugh. I believe Obama did the right thing by going. It told the world he was willing to go and take a chance on not winning. That is guts. I like that.

I have been to Rio a million years ago and it was lovely, unique and probably a good place for the Olympics in "16" since S. America has never had this opportunity.

[trueblue2007]

7. It was NOT. Bush destroying the US reputation WAS A WASTE OF 8 YEARS!!!!

[tblue]

4. I was thinking that, too. If Obama hadn't gone, they would have criticized him for that.

Damned if he did and damned if he didn't. He loves his hometown and I'm sure Chicago loves him back for going out on a limb for them.

[Peacetrain]

9. Not only his hometown, but all the heads of states were trying..

Oh my GOD the wail that would have gone up against Michelle, if the powers that be, wanted Rio.. You can just imagine.

[tblue]

24. And this was, after all, his home town. Of course he'd make an extra effort.

I just want him to stay in this 'bold' mode and just go for it (ie. public option).

[gateley]

19. Chuck Todd said, can you imagine if Obama hadn't gone, he's sitting in the

Oval Office, Chicago is eliminated and he might be thinking "well...maybe I should have gone".

Somebody also mentioned that when NY was in the running, they DIDN'T want Bush to go since there was so much animosity against America.

There's been some complaint that Chicago's presentation was pretty lackluster, and Rio's was brilliant, but I don't know how much that played into the decision.

This was handled just right.

[valerief]

6. Rio, home of the new GM cars! nt

[BlooInBloo]

10. Yep. Nevermind the fair-weather people who only want to try when they're guaranteed a win.

[Peacetrain]

14. 2020... I hope Chicago goes back to slug it out again..

[BlooInBloo]

22. But of course. :)

[old mark]

11. The US has hosted the Olympics 8 times - All of South America, never...

I, too, am glad Obama went, and I'm happy for Brazil that they got it - I bet there will be one hell of a party this weekend!!!!

Look, the RWers will piss and moan about Obama no matter what he does or does not do - they are against him and us, and they have nothing positive to offer our country, so they are working against the President and against the US to make what they think of as political points. Actually, our idiotic political situation could be one reason the US was not chosen.

Last time,in Atlanta, we had a RW bomber - who knows what we would have had this time.

mark

[Peacetrain]

13. Opps I had forgotten that one

[Democrats_win]

16. Yes! Finally, South America gets the Olympics! It's about time!

We should stop acting like Republicans. Instead of being angry that something good happened to someone else we should be happy for them. That's the American way. I'm sure Rio will put on a beautiful Olympics.

[Peacetrain]

18. It will be beautiful.. I am sure they are going to do a great job

[Common Sense Party]

29. Parabéns, Rio!

[hfojvt]

25. yes I can remember Atlanta and Los Angeles in my own lifetime

it is about time it went to South America.

[Bonhomme Richard]

15. I am convinced that the antics of the wacko wingers...........

sealed our fate. If I were the IOC the last thing I would want is the crazy ranting of the teabaggers disrupting the events...and you know they would.

[Peacetrain]

17. You know we talked about that at home a few days ago...

It might have

[lyonn]

31. We can only hope that by 2016 the teabaggers will be thrown

in the trash, like I do with mine.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

20. It's about time the Summer Olympics went to South America

It's going to be an AMAZING opening ceremony.

[gateley]

23. Agree - I was surprised when I heard they'd never been held on the SA continent!

It's their time, and it's totally fair and I'm happy for them.

Even if Chicago would have been selected, I'd have felt bad for Rio. :)

[tblue]

26. No kidding. It seems the US has had more than our share of Olympics. nt

[Shanns]

28. Chicago a no go

Well Chicago could have used it, but we don't even have the cash to put up for the olympics. Heck they can't even bury their own dead, we are that poor! www.blogtoilet.com

The Windy City got a little more windier as citizens exhaled from disappointment. Earlier today,
Chicago was eliminated from candidacy for the Summer Olympics of 2016. Both Chicago and
Tokyo were eliminated, which left Madrid, home of the bullfighting, and Rio De Janeiro, the
new Paris. Unlike Spain, Brazil has never hosted the games.

Compared to those other Cities, with long and rich histories, Chicago didn’t really have a
chance. I’m sure our current economic and unemployment rates could have had an
impact in their decision. It was nice of Obama to go and campaign for the USA, but his
efforts fell short, like a bunch of kids on Xbox live arguing about who is better between
them, you’d think it was a cat food commercial if you were listening.

[madokie]

32. I agree, the President knows what he's doing

He's got us covered, now what we need to do is cover him. Instead of so many here being so hard on him cause they didn't get their pony or the bastid was the wrong color or whatever and get behind him we could get a lot more accomplished. you know