Free Republic

COPENHAGEN – Chicago's early exit from finalist balloting for the 2016 Olympics was a personal setback for President Barack Obama and a painful defeat for America's most prominent Midwestern city. ... Tokyo was eliminated in the second round, leaving Madrid and odds-on favorite Rio de Janeiro to square off in the final balloting. Chicago had seemed to pick up momentum in the last few days, with many IOC members seemingly charmed by Mrs. Obama, who came to Copenhagen ahead of her husband. But when IOC president Jacques Rogge announced the first vote's results, while the Obamas were flying home on...

With the stunning news that Olympic officials had swiftly rejected Chicago as host the 2016 Olympics, despite a personal, last-minute appeal from President Obama, the White House was left Friday with the immediate and difficult challenge of explaining what happened. Did the president falter by making remarks that were emotional and personal, rather than giving specifics about his adopted home town? Is the defeat a sign that Obama's global popularity has begun to wane? White House advisers -- many of them Chicago natives, with a personal stake in the bid -- rushed into the back recesses of the West Wing...

Headline says it all. Madrid, Rio and Tokyo still in the running.

With the stunning news that Olympic officials had swiftly rejected Chicago as host the 2016 Olympics, despite a personal, last-minute appeal from President Obama, the White House was left Friday with the immediate and difficult challenge of explaining what happened. Did the president falter by making remarks that were emotional and personal, rather than giving specifics about his adopted home town? Is the defeat a sign that Obama's global popularity has begun to wane? White House advisers -- many of them Chicago natives, with a personal stake in the bid -- rushed into the back recesses of the West Wing...