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October 02, 2009 - 12:50PM

AX EXPLAINS: The White House senior adviser just spoke with POLITICO about Chicago’s rejection in Denmark - declaring President Obama’s trip to Copenhagen was worth it. “I think everybody understood that it was very competitive situation and they thought that it would be valuable for him to come, and he came on that basis. There certainly were no guarantees, and we didn’t go with any illusions that he was gonna come home with the prize,” Axelrod said.

Asked if the White House had expected Chicago to win, and if he was surprised by the decision, Axelrod said, “We didn’t know,” and said the politics of the International Olympic Committee was out of his league.

“As I said, the lobbying around the - you know I come from Chicago so I’m used to intense politics, but nothing quite rivals apparently the politics around the IOC and getting these Olympic games,” Axelrod said. “And you know, as I said the head of the former president of the Olympic Committee ... was leading the bid for Madrid. That has to count for something. He’s been working with the committee for years. He knows all the members. I’m sure that that was a benefit to them, and all these countries made strong bids so it is what it is. But I think the president would do it again if he had the opportunity.” — Carol E. Lee (12:47 p.m.)

October 02, 2009 - 12:39PM

‘NO ILLUSIONS’ – White House senior adviser David Axelrod hit the cable networks Friday to respond to the International Olympic Committee’s rejection of Chicago’s bid to host the 2012 Games.
October 02, 2009 - 11:58AM

AX RESPONDS: President Obama’s senior adviser David Axelrod offered the White House’s first response to Chicago’s rejection by the International Olympic Committee. The Chicago native defended the president’s unsuccessful mission to Copenhagen as a worthwhile effort.
“I am proud of this president for going to make the case for this country,” he said on MSNBC. “Anytime you’re going to make the case for the United States of America, you’re doing the right thing.
Axelrod denied that the president had made a mistake by spending valuable time on a trip to Denmark.
“The fact is that he left at 7 o’clock last night and he’ll be back in an hour or two,” he said. “I think it was well worth the investment of time and I have no regrets about that and I know [Obama] doesn’t.” (11:57 a.m.)
MORE: Moving on to CNN, Axelrod insisted the president and his team knew it was possible they’d be disappointed in Copenhagen.
“He did the best he could,” Axelrod said. “We had no illusions.”
And the White House political guru argued Obama hadn’t lost any points by going to bat for his hometown.
“Had we not gone we would have been criticized for not going,” he said. “All he gave up really was a little bit of sleep.”
He concluded: “It’s the world’s loss.” (12:17 p.m.)
October 02, 2009 - 11:46AM

BREAKING — SHOCK: Chicago has been eliminated from consideration for the 2016 Olympics, hours after President Obama urged the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen to “choose America.”
October 02, 2009 - 11:28AM

‘STAY THE COURSE’ — Vice President Biden offered a response to Friday’s unemployment numbers in a pool spray ahead of his meeting with the administration’s Middle Class Task Force.
“We are working hard on every front to turn this economy around. As bad as things are, they would be far worse without the Recovery Plan or these other efforts,”Biden said. Today’s tough news is a reminder, though, as if anybody needed it, how critical this work is, in making the Recovery Act Work … Those efforts need to be redoubled in the weeks ahead.
Biden sounded an optimistic note, saying the country would bounce back thanks to “the determination and creativity of the American people, combined with our determination to stay the course in this recovery.”
“Today’s bad news does not change my confidence in the fact that we are going to recovery,” he said. “I believe we’re doing the right things to move things in the right direction.”

http://www.politico.com/politico44/wbarchive/whiteboard10022009.html