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Obama explains his Olympic failure

I am sure journalists would be chafing at the bit to ask Obama for his reaction regarding his apparent failure to win for Chicago the 2016 Olympics.

So, here's a fictitious Q-and-A about the same.

Q: Mr. President, how would you react to Chicago losing the bid to host the 2016 Olympics inspite of you being personally present in Copenhagen?

A: Well, I am happy that you asked that question. First of all, I want to congratulate Rio on their excellent bid - as it turned out, the winning one.

I am sure Rio will host an wonderful Olympic Games.

With respect to Chicago, it's my home town and I love Chicago and I was asked to go and support their bid and that's what I did because I was convinced and I am still convinced that Chicago would do a stellar job of it.

However, the IOC is an independent body and they have their rules of the game and they applied those rules and it turned out that Chicago came up short and I respect the IOC and agree with their decision.

I am sure Chicago will get another chance and they will do an even better job of bidding for it than they did this time around and then they'll be able to convince the folks of the IOC.

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