Did anti-American resentments play role in Chicago's bid losing?

Some Chicago officials say anti-American resentments likely played a role in Chicago’s Olympic bid dying in the first round today.

President Obama could not undo in one year the resentment against America that President Bush and others built up for decades before, they said.

“There must be” resentment against America, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said, near the stage where he had hoped to give a victory speech in Daley Plaza. “The way we [refused to sign] the Kyoto Treaty, we mislead the world into Iraq. The world had a very bad taste in its mouth about us. But there was such a turnaround after last November. The world now feels better about America and about Americans. That’s why I thought the president’s going was the deal-maker.”

State Rep. Susana Mendoza (D-Chicago) said she saw first hand the resentment against America five years ago when she was in Rio de Janeiro to speak as a surrogate for then-presidential candidate John Kerry.

“This vote today was without a doubt ridiculously political and mean-spirited,” Mendoza said. “I travel a lot. I was literally nearly killed in Rio three years ago when I was there representing the U.S. Government. I thought we had really turned a corner with the election of President Obama. People are so much more welcoming of Americans now. But this isn’t the people of those countries. This is the leaders still living with an outdated impression of Americans.”

U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) was approached by a consul general at Daley Plaza as they waited for the announcement Friday. He had the same basic message for her: “A consul general approached me as we waited for the announcement and he said that was what he was hearing — that there wasn’t enough time for Barack Obama to dispel the old image and to convince people that the United States would now be a more cooperative member of the world community. But I don’t know if that’s it.”

Presidential press secretary Robert Gibbs rejected the notion that the vote was influenced by the United States' standing around the world.

"No, I think you saw both at the U.N. General Assembly, you saw at the G20 last week, I think we've made progress this week, albeit the beginning of a process in dealing internationally with Iran and bringing our allies together on that process," Gibbs told reporters on Air Force One. "I think virtually every measure of our standing in the world is different than it was just this time last year. So I don't read too much of that into this."