Obama Ridicules Olympic Criticism at Fundraiser

President Obama singled out critics of the push for Chicago to host the 2016 Summer Olympics Tuesday night in New York City, saying it's a sad thing when Americans can't cheer their own country.

Obama, in New York for a series of fundraisers, told a friendly audience that he doesn't understand how anybody could root against health care reform, and even more egregious, root against the Olympics.

"What I reject is when some people sit on the sidelines and root for failure on health care, or they root for failure on reforming our energy system, or they root for failure on getting the Olympics," Obama said. "I mean, who's against the Olympics? What's up with that? You know it's a sad thing, isn't it? I mean, I don't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican, you know. It's the Olympics, come on!"

Obama took heat from Republicans when he flew to Copenhagen in the beginning of October to help the United States Olympic Committee try to win the 2016 games for the city of Chicago.

The president was on the ground in Denmark for about four hours, but Chicago was shut out of contention in the first round of voting, receiving only 19 votes. Rio de Janeiro won the bid.

The loss and the cost of the trip, almost $900,000, led many to say the voyage was not worth the president's time and not worth the money.