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WASHINGTON — There was no trip to New York and no fancy outing as the Obamas celebrated their first wedding anniversary since they moved to the White House. Instead they kept it simple, with a dinner out Thursday at an elegant, American-fare restaurant near Georgetown. The evening was balmy and the moon almost full. President Barack Obama stayed in all day before taking a motorcade with Michelle Obama to the Blue Duck Tavern to mark their 17th wedding anniversary. Mrs. Obama stepped into the restaurant wearing a backless knee-length dress while the president wore a dark suit.

(CNN) -- Whenever President Obama has traveled overseas and offered pointed and direct assessments of the United States, some of them critical, Republicans have ripped him for criticizing America, saying a president should always defend the United States. So I want to hear the explanation by these so-called patriots of their giddy behavior over the United States losing the 2016 Olympic Games. Yes, the United States. The bid that was rejected Friday by the International Olympic Committee was not a Chicago, Illinois, bid. It was the official bid submitted by the United States Olympic Committee and was representative of the...

US newspapers offered various takes Saturday on Chicago's spectacular Olympic flameout, but when it came to President Barack Obama's last-minute lobbying bid, the message was loud and clear: What was he thinking? Obama joined his wife Michelle in Copenhagen Thursday just hours before the International Olympic Committee voted out Chicago in the first round, eventually awarding the Games to Rio de Janeiro in a landslide. The White House was quick to downplay suggestions that the snub was a repudiation of Obama himself, and insisted the presidential dash to the Danish capital was "absolutely" the right decision, despite a host of...

We would like to congratulate Rio de Janeiro for winning the right to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. It will be the first time that the Games are held in South America, and it is a fitting tribute to Brazil’s growing stature. That said, we have to ask: What was President Obama thinking when he flew off to Copenhagen to lobby the International Olympic Committee on behalf of Chicago? We don’t doubt Mr. Obama’s devotion to his adopted hometown. Or that Chicago would have been a great place for the Games. Leaders from all the other countries bidding showed up,...

Obama raced to Denmark and came home with his tail between his legs. The whole IOC episode was unbecoming and unnecessary......but no one expected frontrunner Chicago to be voted out on the first round. Particularly, in light of Obama's groveling and America-bashing (appeasing foreigners since the day he took office). Obama said he hoped to use the Olympics to improve America's image. (Memo to the prez: America has nothing to be ashamed of.) Yet for all of Obama's sucking up, he left with the dignity of his office cut down a few notches. At some point, substance matters more than...

That is only a sidebar to what happened on Friday, with an Olympic bid from Chicago that President Obama shouldn't have gone near. This wasn't the President's fight. For a smart guy, he does some dumb things sometimes. We can talk about winners and losers all we want to now that it is over. The biggest winners of all are the people of Chicago, because their city doesn't have to plunge itself into debt to host the Olympics. This is the kind of winner New York was despite Michael Bloomberg's insane quest to get the 2012 Games, which eventually -...

ABC's Steven Portnoy reports: Rush Limbaugh acknowledged his glee in telling his talk radio audience Friday that the International Olympic Committee's rejection of Chicago's bid for the 2016 games is a metaphor for President Obama's weakness and an illustration of his "Mars-sized ego." "Who knew the Olympic Committee was a bunch of racists?" Limbaugh joked at the start of his program, saying he was waiting on official confirmation from former president Jimmy Carter, before turning to the gravity of the nation's embarrassment. "When you stop to think about it, folks, doesn't it make sense?" Limbaugh asked. "Our president, Barack Hussein...

Senator Rowland Burris of Illinois, the Senator who was appointed to fill President Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat, blames George Bush for Chicago not getting the Olympics in 2016. Burris stated in an interview, shortly after the announcement, that the image of the U. S. has been so tarnished in the last 8 years that, even Barack Obama making an unprecedented pitch for the games could not overcome the hatred the world has for us as a result of George Bush. Wow! When will the Democrats in Congress ever get off this “Blame Bush” syndrome. Burris even went on to...

Rowdy Gaines, NBC swimming commentator, was asked why by ESPN news why Chicago lost the bid in the first round. Replied Gaines, "I looked at the bid, it had everything needed, it was the best bid. Maybe it was political. Maybe there's still a hangover from the last eight years. I don't know."....obama's loyal disciples continue to drown in their delusions....

One can understand an American president’s lobbying for an American city to obtain the Olympics, but the blitz by the Obamas proved a PR nightmare. Let us count the ways: 1) Obama’s brand is trans-nationalism and an “America is not exceptional” multiculturalism. According to his worldview, it makes sense that a South American country — especially a powerful, ascendant country such as Brazil — should at last have its turn at hosting the Olympics. It did not seem consistent that a politician who had reached out to the Castros, Chávez, Morales, and Ortega, in parochial fashion, would lobby for his...

WASHINGTON — OK, so it wasn't health care, climate change or war. Still, President Barack Obama's high-profile failure to win the Olympics for Chicago could feed negative narratives already nipping at his heels — that he's a better talker than closer, more celebrity than statesman. And this could hamper his efforts on the weightier issues. Despite Obama's fabled charm and powers of persuasion, his in-person plea for Chicago to host the 2016 Summer Games fell flat. It was a hugely embarrassing defeat. His adopted hometown — considered a front-runner heading into Friday's voting — didn't just lose, it took last...

It goes without saying the Obama-loving media will be in full damage control mode this weekend trying to spin Friday's announcement that Chicago will not be the host of the 2016 Olympics, but this one has to take the cake: Losing the Olympics Bid Is Good for Obama

The liberal media - mainstream and fringe - will spend the next few days rationalizing, alibiing, justifying and making excuses to explain or minimize the effect on Barack Obama's image that Chicago's failure to be selected as the site for the 2016 Olympic games. Some of the lies from the liberal mainstream media will include:

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama was left with the rare taste of failure when votes were counted on Friday, after his hometown Chicago's hopes of hosting the 2016 Olympics died in Denmark. Chicago's rejection by the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen, dealt a personal blow to Obama, who had put his glowing global prestige on the line, as a favor to the city where he nurtured his own American dream. Obama, who polls show is hugely popular outside the United States, was seen as the trump card in Chicago's pack on decision day at the IOC meeting. But...