Daley upbeat: 'We gave our best'
A day after Chicago was snubbed for the 2016 Olympics, Mayor Daley brushed aside the defeat as he returned home, insisting he remains upbeat about the city's future.
"We have a great city, we have a great people. We have a future just as bright as anyone else,'' Daley said Saturday at O'Hare Airport after stepping off an airplane from Copenhagen, where Rio de Janiero was chosen to host the Summer Games.
The delegation -- which included Gov. Quinn -- drew spontaneous applause and cheers from other passengers at O'Hare.
Despite some criticism of the city's final presentation to the International Olympic Committee, the mayor praised the effort and said he won't try to determine why the city wasn't awarded the Olympics. "You don't start second-guessing,'' he said. "We gave our best.''
The city's future, though, doesn't appear to include a bid for the 2020 Olympics. With the 2016 Games headed for Brazil, Daley said bluntly he doesn't believe the IOC would award the Games to another city in the Western Hemisphere just four years later.
Did the rejection represent anti-American sentiment?
"I don't think it was against the United States,'' pro basketball star and delegation member David Robinson said.