Chicago out in first round in Olympic picking.

Good for Obama, for trying to get the Olympics for the USA and for his home town. But I have to say I'm not terribly surprised if the Olympic big-wigs were not crazy about being big-footed by the American president. Maybe it had nothing to do with it at all. Apparently South America has never hosted the Olympics, making Rio a logical choice.

(I think I may go insane if I hear one more cable news yakker say they're "shocked" and "stunned." I mean, 9/11 it ain't, right? I think we'll recover.)

Late Update: Chuck Todd is saying that as recently as a few weeks ago, the White House had been resisting pressure from Chicago friends and supporters who were pushing for Obama to make a big push for Chicago.

Later Update: We're now living in the post-Chicago Olympics rejection era.

Even Later Update: TPM Reader JC doesn't agree ...

Despite your reaction it is pretty shocking given that Chicago and Rio were the frontrunners and the most recent guesses suggested Chicago had eeked out a bit of a lead.

Madrid has hardly been in the conversation.

And what's up with your "big-footed" comment? Heads of state were there from all the finalists.

Rough Road for Chicago Update: An anon TPM Reader sends along this ...

Id prefer to not have my name published if you post any of this, but I wanted to give you some inside perspective on the Olympic planning as I had the privilege to work and help with some of the architecture and planning proposal for Chicago's Bid.

Mainly, this is just an email to say that regardless of the headline on Drudge, and your comment that the IOC might not enjoy being "big-footed" by Obama, that is not the case. In fact, it was probably helpful, even though we were voted out in the first round. Almost every other country has their leader making personal appearances in support of major international architecture and planning endeavors, but the American president. There have been a number of projects, New Mariinsky Theater in St Petersberg, Russia (for example), where all the finalists, were supported by the leader of their country in having a call placed to the committee, however, the US architect/planner never receives that level of support or interest from the President. So it can only be refreshing to have the President support its country in these types of selections.

A few months ago, (getting back to the Olympic selection) it was made clear to us that Chicago was going to have some difficulty in gaining the selection for a number of reasons including that we have had a large percentage of games hosted here, but most importantly, that we do not have the best international reputation at this time, and it well known that it is a frustrating and difficult process compared to the other host countries for travelers to gain admittance into the US. There was not a lot that could be done with our planning about this, but it was still brought up as an unofficial "official" concern of the IOC. I think Obama's visit was prob in some effort to help remove this concern from the selection committee. I would say from knowledge of work on this bid, as well as having produced work to assist with London's planning effort for Foreign Office Architects in London (before starting my own practice in Chicago) that there was little chance that the decision would be able to be changed this late in the game, and that at this point (the last week), most of the IOC already knows their rankings, and are just discussing the top two. So, again, regardless of Obama's influence (or lack of), at best, all he would have been able to do was help push over the top, or slightly hurt, but not much more. The decision was most likely already made that Chicago would not host it a few weeks ago by the IOC.

Just Shoot Me Now Update: That Dr. Nancy goof on MSNBC just called this a "profound loss" for Chicago and a "stunning blow" for the USA. Look, I'm sure there are a lot of really disappointed people in Chicago who worked really hard. But c'mon, the rest of us can muddle through, right?