Obama's $3M Chicago Olympics Pitch Falls Short of the Gold

By: Mark Knoller
Topics: White House

(AP)

So much for all the speculation that President Obama went to Copenhagen because the fix was in for Chicago.

Otherwise, why would he put the prestige of his high office on the line by making an expensive, time-consuming, high-profile trans-Atlantic trip only to return home empty-handed.

"We're obviously disappointed that we didn't win," says White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton. "The president did everything he could to bring the Olympics to our country."

In fact, he was the first U.S. president ever to make a personal appeal to the International Olympic Committee on behalf of an American city seeking to host the games.

He spoke of Chicago in heartfelt terms.

"It's a bustling metropolis with the warmth of a small town; where the world already comes together every day to live and work and reach for a dream."

The White House billed the trip as an "official" journey, so taxpayers picked up the costs for the slightly more than 14-hour round trip on Air Force One. The Defense Department pegs the operating costs for the president's 747 at $100,219 per flight hour. Double it to include the backup plane that always accompanies the president. Add the costs of the Air Force 757 that Mrs. Obama used to fly to Copenhagen earlier in the week. It adds up to nearly $3-million dollars. And that doesn't include the aircraft used to fly the presidential limousines and Secret Service vehicles there as well.

Obama on Olympics Effort: It was Worth it

At first, Mr. Obama had decided against a daytrip to Denmark on behalf of Chicago's bid to host the 2016 summer games.

"I would make the case in Copenhagen personally, if I weren't so firmly committed to making real the promise of quality, affordable health care for every American," he said on September 16th, while hosting an Olympics event on the South Lawn.

He announced that day that he was sending "a more compelling superstar" to make the case for Chicago's bid: the first lady.

Photo Essay: Olympic Games Go to Rio
Photo Essay: Chicago's Bid

But a few days later the president started having second thoughts. Maybe he should go. The White House sent an advance team to Copenhagen last week and on Monday, officially announced Mr. Obama changed his mind and would make the trip in order to deliver a personal pitch for his adopted hometown. But to no avail.

Senior advisor David Axelrod says Chicago's elimination was a disappointment, but Mr. Obama "takes things in stride."

"He'll take this and he'll move on," said Axelrod of the president, "and I know he won't regret having gone."

The president drew fire from Republicans and other critics who said his time would have been better spent working on his new strategy for Afghanistan and fixing the economy.

And might the president's involvement have had a negative impact on the IOC's consideration of Chicago's bid? Axelrod doesn't think so, though he has suspicions about the Olympic Committee.

He said Mr. Obama is held in "very high esteem by leaders around the world." But Axelrod thinks "there are internal politics at the IOC that were at play" and the president's appearance wasn't enough to overcome them.

He's not the first American to return home from the Olympics without the gold.

Olympics Decision Stuns Chicago Crowd
Rio de Janeiro to Host 2016 Olympics

(CBS)

Mark Knoller is a CBS News White House correspondent. You can read more of his posts in Hotsheet here. You can also follow him on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/markknoller.

Mark Knoller
Mark Knoller is a CBS News White House correspondent.
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by sickofthis09 October 3, 2009 6:22 PM EDT: Thank you stuart-johns1 !! I am so feed up with a group of people who are creating fear of the unknown to drive division between Americans. If people would really do their homework, THINK and stop running of off Glen Beck hype they would be calm and ready for the change so many people voted for. Change takes courage and involves risk. I ask for people to please give the President a chance to make a difference and please know, it takes money...yes money yo get us on track.; Reply to this comment

by sickofthis09 October 3, 2009 5:21 PM EDT

The 24 hours Anti-Obama media and journalists actually spent time picking apart every negative element they could find to denounce the president and the Olympic bid just to continue the ongoing attack against the president. Anything NEGATIVE concerning Obama , such as his attempt to capture the ?gold? for 2016 for the US, is immediately broadcast over and over in attempts to brainwash into the narrow minds of American people their President is a failure. Talk about conspiracy and brainwashing. Some say the taxpayers should be compensated...he is wasting tax dollars, but when Bush flew to Beijing and was pictured drunk, enjoying the games for a week as the country was spiraling out of control, did we hear a word on what the expense was???? No, Obama flies off and we are given a detail breakdown what how much the fuel cost for each hour of flight time. We all know what is good for some in this country is not good for others....don?t we...Then the idiots claimed Oprah was flown on Air force 1 on the taxpayers dime. How stupid is this? Oprah, a billionaire does not need Air force 1, nor did she fly on Air force 1 on the taxpayer?s dime. Where were the taxpayers when 2 wars were started at a tune of 15 Billion dollars a month? Where are the tax payers when Dick Cheney former CEO of Halliburton Oil, with 353million in stock options masterminded his on Oil company to take over refineries in Iraq. This same oil, controlled behind the scenes from Cheney, was being sold the US military and was actually caught by the pentagon for being inflated and overpriced and overbilled?which means all of a ?sudden ?concerned taxpayer, the VP was ripping you left and right with oil taken from Iraq and being paid for by you, the TAXPAYERS. ?..So, all of the Glen Becks out there, please stop crucifying the President and his sincere desires for the betterment of this country. You all laid down for 8 years and were raped by the administration who has done everything imaginable to drive us in the ground and now you want to start a revolution and march in the streets. Yes, read up on the true reason we went into Iraq, a war we can?t not get out off 8 years later. Read up on Halliburton Oil and Cheney. There were never weapons of Mass destruction. The administration went to Iraq and terminated their leader. A country that had nothing to do with 9-11, this is on the Taxpayers dime and we enjoyed it so much, we elected the folks again for a 2nd term! So, don?t talk to about how your grandchildren will be impact by the deficit in 10 years! Please?.with the money spent on unfounded wars, with the richer getting richer on wall street for the last 8 years by placing risky bets with your pension funds and 401k?s and receiving millions in bonuses?.ask them how will grandchildren pay for this. Get off the Whitehouse steps and head to Wallstreet people!! That is where your jobs have gone!! Fly to Texas and ask the Cheney family how will your grandchildren survive?I am sure that is not ***** concern for his grandchildren because they will have money long after he is gone and I am sure his family will thank each of you for that. When Wallstreet was doing whatever they wanted to do as long as the money continued to flow in, there were no tea partiers marching in the streets! You all should have demanded answers years ago. Now, you are fighting against a man who is trying to rectify a massive array of problems. When you should have been outraged, you remained silent. We had no right to start that fight in Iraq?a fight we can?t win?a fight that has sapped us all dry of our future wealth. You all actually want to celebrate in loss of the Olympics because the President wanted it, you criticize and hate him so because he has not brought us through this calamity in 8 months that took 8 years to create.

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by stuart-johns1 October 3, 2009 6:02 PM EDT: Two very excellenet , excellent posts. Great job, sickofthis09 !!!


by sickofthis09 October 3, 2009 5:20 PM EDT: I am personally so sick of the Obama bashing that I must pull away from the news networks. The Olympics is a wonderful representation of unity and pride. As an American, I would have been overjoyed to not only be able to see the Olympics on our soil, but to see jobs created to boost the Chicago economy in preparation for the Olympics! Yes, Jobs Created in a time when we need it the most, thousands of jobs. The Olympics would have been a wonderful thing for the USA, and it should not be humorous because the bid was given to Rio. So many people have openly made it clear, this is a failure of the president and they are glad ?he failed?. How crazy is this thought process. ?Americans?, and I use the word lightly, actually have bashed President Obama and his wife for making a case on behalf of the United States. I am embarrassed when I read the blogs. People from all over the world can clearly see how divided we are. To other countries, it is not about Black or White, Dems or Rep, we are one, the "divide and narrow minded" United States of America. There were groups from Chicago who actually travelled to Denmark to refute any persuasions for the games to be in Chicago. Who does this and call themselves an American??? We are against ourselves!!! I really believe so many people cannot allow themselves to see the positive from the games being in the US because they are bent on going against anything and everything the president is pushing for....yes something as patriotic as the Olympic games being in America is condemned . I have yet to read a comment from any persons from Spain, Tokyo, or Rio denouncing their leaders, who also attended Denmark , for trying to bring the games to their country. We are a hateful rooted country. That is what the other countries see American as?total bickering, division, and totally disrespect for our president of 8 months whom by the way is being blamed for 8 years of mess.; Reply to this comment

by troopf4 October 3, 2009 11:49 AM EDT

alphaa10000: I sense most people would have preferred Obama pass on the $3 M trip at tax payers expense and engage more in important issues like meeting with the commander on the ground in Afghanistan.
No, Obama went because it was Chicago - had it been any other city in the US he would have passed...
He actulaly should have gone to Chicago and met with the family of the young man that was beat to death and meet with the gangs and officials in the inner cities. See, he doesn't give a hoot if blacks are killing blacks - he's used being half black all of his adult life as a crutch ,aka, tax payers pick up the tab and of course being a Community Organizer - he worked for NON Profit Organizations that received tax payer funded monies, can you say"ACORN".
He nor Michelle care about the average American whether they be black, white or hispanic, and the only reason he's pushing illegal aliens is because he's looking to 2012 to be relected - of course they'll vote for him as a payback for health insurance. Do you really think he gives a dame about hispanics as people - hell no, they're a number to him at the polls - it's called him buying them on the backs of the tax payers..You have to remember when he was training ACORN to get people registered to vote he told them to target "Democratic Idiots", those with a high school, GED or lower education. Get it, anyone above that education level would see right thru him.
I gave him the beneift of the doubt when he first started campaigning then his associates were exposed and his lack of experience except for Community Organizer and that sealed the deal for me - he didn't get my vote. He's on a roll, since taking office he's ran our national debt up higher than all sitting presidents combined - that's what he does best - spend tax payers monies....he told you what his experience was - so - you got what you voted for..

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by stuart-johns1 October 3, 2009 2:47 PM EDT: Obama DID meet with the General over there. On Air Force One. Man can you guys EVER stop lying? America is not stupid. Only you republican fanatical extremists are.


by janeteleanor October 3, 2009 9:05 AM EDT: With this Obama stage act watch the excuses start rolling off his tongue and his administration.; Reply to this comment

by troopf4 October 3, 2009 6:55 AM EDT

Lawyers-Guns-Money: I thought your "Guy" was bringing the troops
home from Iraq and Afghanistan and going to create jobs, blah, blah.
Please shut the hell up about Bush - Obama is the president NOW - he was going to fix everything -CHANGE - Tell me, what in the hell has he done in 8-9 months????
I lost count of the Obama lovers I've ask this question of and all thry can do is revert to Bush Bashing...Read really s l o w , maybe that will help you digest the question.

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by stuart-johns1 October 3, 2009 5:53 PM EDT: Allow me to show you everything Obama has done. Note that I dop not list those that are a work in progree with the exception of the Recovery Act.

And this list of Obama's accomplishments is therefore, partial.

January 20 -- In his inaugural address, Mr. Obama pressured congress to put stimulus legislation on his desk in record time.

February 17 -- The resulting 787 billion dollar American Recovery and Reinvestment Act contained no congressional earmarks, per the President?s request, yet provides for more than five hundred billion dollars in government spending and hundreds of billions in tax cuts and support of state programs.

February 26 -- The administration introduced an annual budget dramatically shifting federal spending priorities towards education, health and energy policies and launched health care reform with 600+ billion in funding.

By executive action the President has raised ethics, transparency, and lobbying standards, begun new policies on treatment of enemy combatants, and ended restrictions on stem cell research funding.

March 10 -- As if he wanted to start of the next 50-day sprint off with a bang, the President called for sweeping changes in education.

Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation reforming ethics and health care laws. He sponsored a law increasing tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for childcare. In 2001, as co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama supported Republican Governor Ryan's payday loan regulations and predatory mortgage lending regulations aimed at averting home foreclosures.

He sponsored and led unanimous, bipartisan passage of legislation to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they detained, and legislation making Illinois the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations.

Obama voted in favor of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and cosponsored the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act. In September 2006, Obama supported a related bill, the Secure Fence Act. Obama introduced two initiatives bearing his name: Lugar?Obama, which expanded the Nunn?Lugar cooperative threat reduction concept to conventional weapons, and the Coburn?Obama Transparency Act, which authorized the establishment of USAspending.gov, a web search engine on federal spending. On June 3, 2008, Senator Obama, along with Senators Thomas R. Carper, Tom Coburn, and John McCain, introduced follow-up legislation: Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008.

Obama is not hostile to tort reform and voted for the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 and the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 which grants immunity from civil liability to telecommunications companies complicit with NSA warrantless wiretapping operations.

In December 2006, President Bush signed into law the Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act, marking the first federal legislation to be enacted with Obama as its primary sponsor. In January 2007, Obama and Senator Feingold introduced a corporate jet provision to the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, which was signed into law in September 2007.

Later in 2007, Obama sponsored an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act adding safeguards for personality disorder military discharges. This amendment passed the full Senate in the spring of 2008. He sponsored the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act supporting divestment of state pension funds from Iran's oil and gas industry, which has not passed committee, and co-sponsored legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism. Obama also sponsored a Senate amendment to the State Children's Health Insurance Program providing one year of job protection for family members caring for soldiers with combat-related injuries.

Obama also reduced the secrecy given to presidential records and changed procedures to promote disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.

On January 29, 2009, President Obama signed his first bill into law, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which eased the requirements for filing employment discrimination lawsuits. Five days later, he signed the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover an additional 4 million children currently uninsured.


by mysteriousjz October 3, 2009 5:41 AM EDT: I dont know if the reason was explained to the media. But, the bid was rejected because of US policies of "Fortress like" where getting permission to visit, fly, and/or stay in the US was too rigorous or unattainable for many people. Kinda like Qaddafi mentioned when some state presidential aides such as co-pilots and physicians were not allowed to fly to attend the UN. (He suggested moving UN to some other country); Reply to this comment

by mmrpi October 3, 2009 4:34 AM EDT

Does the president really need 2 757's , and a support craft carrying his limo ,and the vehicles of the secret service ? why can't all this fit into the 757 ? which is +- 55M long ? Or for that matter do we need +- 40 Marine 1's ? at a cost of 400million apiece ! , savings should start at the top !

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by stuart-johns1 October 3, 2009 2:44 PM EDT: Wherever you got those stats from don't go there again. There are not NOT 40+ Marine 1's. Geeeeesh


by jsd330 October 3, 2009 7:22 PM EDT: Try 28 Marine One's Washington Post article by Peter Beck March 17, 2008.


by ma_farrah October 3, 2009 2:25 AM EDT: I am not an American but I feel proud that United States have a hardworking President like Mr. Obama who only thinks of the welfare of the American people.It is very obvious that Pres. Obama was vying for the 2016 Olympics because of the job this project would generate not to speak of boosting the economy and tourism of United States. This is a way cleaning the country from the mess the republicans left after 8 years of foolish governance. I envy the Americans that you have a president who stood by what he thinks measure that would alleviate the condition of the Health care system of U.S. Going to Copenhagen was not a mistake but a good sign for the Americans that you guys have a president who would stand for your own good. You must be proud of his knowledge, political will and care for the American people.; Reply to this comment

by stuart-johns1 October 2, 2009 10:08 PM EDT

I think I'm disgusted. The anti-Obama mentality is embarrassing. It is worthless.

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by alphaa10000 October 3, 2009 4:28 AM EDT: But don't look on it is ten hours in a cadaver ward. Consider it a study of Lamarckian biology at work in American politics. Irony-- borrowed by Stalin to avoid bourgeouis genetics and defend the concept of creating a new Soviet man, the right fringe bends over backwards to demonstrate the concept is valid.