(President Obama expresses regret over Chicago's loss for 2016 Olympics.)
(Senior White House Advisor David Axelrod says President Obama is disappointed that the International Olympic Committee eliminated Chicago's bid for the 2016 games.)
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Olympic blow comes at a bad time for Pres. Obama as healthcare on the line
President Obama's failure to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago has weakened the White House's political standing at a time when it is trying to strong-arm a healthcare bill through Congress.
The International Olympic Committee's (IOC) elimination of Chicago in the first round coupled with another dismal job loss report left the administration reeling as Obama stood before reporters in the Rose Garden and said he had no regrets about his trip.
The journey to Copenhagen attracted headlines across the globe and the stunning news of the U.S. elimination on Friday stole the spotlight from Pres. Obama's number one priority of healthcare reform. While the bad news happened on a Friday -- the best day for bad news to occur -- it was also fodder for the Sunday talk shows.
The White House pushed back vigorously on any suggestion that Pres. Obama's trip was poor decision making by administration officials, but the trip provided an easy target for Republicans -- and some Democrats.
"How do we win Afghanistan if we can't even get good intelligence about the Olympic vote?" one angry and baffled Democratic strategist said.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs rejected the idea that Pres. Obama had been misled, and both he and senior adviser David Axelrod said they did not understand the intricacies of IOC politics.
"I know the president would never shy away from promoting a city or a state or the country on the international stage," Gibbs said. "I think Chicago had a very strong bid. I think by all accounts and by many accounts it was the strongest bid."
As the president was returning from what had to feel like a long plane ride home, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the national unemployment rate crept higher to 9.8 percent, a figure worse than most analysts had expected.
While Obama said Friday afternoon that his economic team would "explore any and all additional measures," Republicans said the U.S. deserved the president's "undivided attention" on issues like unemployment.
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said that while he is "disappointed with the IOC's decision, I look forward to the president returning stateside so that he can refocus his efforts on the growing unemployment crisis that was highlighted by today's monthly jobs report."
The president said the new unemployment rate is "a sobering reminder that progress comes in fits and starts, and that we're going to need to grind out this recovery step by step."
Gibbs was quick to defend Pres. Obama's decision to go to Copenhagen even though the president said last month that he would be unable to go because of the ongoing healthcare debate.
"I want to know what was Michael Steele doing about 1:50 a.m. when we landed -- 1:50 a.m. in the morning when we landed in Denmark," Gibbs said. "I can only imagine that somebody -- they probably had a press release queued up that said, if Chicago didn't get the Olympics and the President didn't get to go. You know, there's people trying to solve problems and there's people playing games, and I think we know where a bunch of that is."
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg came to Obama's defense Friday, telling The New York Daily News that "the president was absolutely right to push for it."
"The Olympics should not be a partisan issue, and suggesting this is a loss for President Obama is nothing more than petty partisan politics," Bloomberg said.
View Larger Map
Sources: The Hill, MSNBC, Slate, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Huffington Post, AOL, Google Maps
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment