President Obama congratulated Chicago for its Olympic effort, but conceded he was disappointed that his hometown would not host the 2016 Summer Games. He offered his congratulations to Brazil, and expressed no regret about his personal trip to Copenhagen.

"I believe it's always a worthwhile endeavor to promote and boost the United States of America and invite the world to come see what we're all about," he said. "We obviously would have been eager to host these games, but, as I said, this nation and our athletes are still very much excited to compete in 2016."

While Obama said little more about the politics of it, press secretary Robert Gibbs earlier did shoot back at Republicans who seemed to be reacting with a measure of delight at the bad news.

"I want to know what was Michael Steele doing about 1:50 a.m. when we landed," he told reporters on Air Force One, arguing that his trip did not overly distract the president from the pressing business of state. "You know, there's people trying to solve problems and there's people playing games, and I think we know where a bunch of that is."

Obama also addressed the new jobs report, calling it "a sobering reminder that progress comes in fits and starts and that we're going to need to grind out this recovery step by step."