I'm sorry, but this is just specious. The positive (and yes, negative) effects of such an event last well beyond a mere two weeks. Mixed feelings, since I didn't think it was a good idea to give Daley such a big easily-abused toy to play with, but I thought this was a great opportunity, economic, infrastructure, and otherwise, for Chicago. Yeah, and Wisconsin. I think I thought they'd get edged by Rio, but first round is a bit of a kick in the gut. It's my understanding from reading the BBC that the first round results largely occurred because Rio supporters made a conscious decision to try and get Chicago out of the running ASAP since they were Rio's biggest threat, in combination with a sentimental plea by an aged Juan Antonio Samaranch to vote for Madrid and the fact that North America has the smallest voting bloc really sealed their doom. Even most of the IOC members seemed surprised by it. Not really much to do with Obama or Anti-Americanism or even Chicago or its bid.