As Rio was confirmed to be the Olympic city for the 2016 Games by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Americans are trying to understand the motives behind the rejection of Chicago's Olympic bid, pointing out former President Bush as the culprit for this outcome, reports Patrick Jonsson for the Christian Science Monitor.

Rev. Jesse Jackson expressed his belief that the former administration's unpopular actions in Iraq "[led] in some global quarters to caricatures of a cowboy country run from a ranch in Texas," which played into the first-round ouster of Chicago from Olympic contention.

According to Jonsson, despite recent improvements in America's image brought by the Obama Administration, most commentators feel it was not enough to sway the IOC in favor of the Windy City. But conservatives claim that Obama may be the one to blame.

"There may be some love for him, but there certainly is no respect for him," radio talk jock Rush Limbaugh said. "He doesn't understand how delighted the world is to make him look foolish in order to take a swipe at our country." There are, of course, other possible reasons for the dismissal of America's bid, experts claim.

The Christian Science Monitor comments that allegations of corruption during the Salt Lake City and Atlanta Olympics, along with Chicago's reputation as a highly corrupt city, may explain the final decision as well.

"A less conspiratorial scenario is simply that the IOC had seen economic and social progress in South America, which deserved a reward with a major Olympics -- the continent's first," remarks Jonsson. The IOC "definitely would love to see the continents that have not yet organized the Games like Africa or Latin America do that in the future," IOC President Jacques Rogge said on the official website for the 2008 Beijing Games in an August 2007 interview.

However, Hellen Dale of The Heritage Foundation claims the rejection by the IOC is another example that President Obama exerts only a limited influence, which has finally reached its limits. The conservative think tank notes, "It is surely an indication of the president's confidence in his own personal appeal -- and misplaced sense of priorities -- that he made the trip in the midst of the health care battle and the critical impasse for US strategy towards Afghanistan."

Dale further insists that this recent IOC move indicates a pattern in Obama's public diplomacy: "an over reliance on the presidential image and appeal -- and a failure to engage in diplomatic groundwork abroad or much needed interagency reform at home."

Yet, according to a recent survey by the Nation Brand Index (NBI), the US is the most admired country in the world, mainly due to the "star power" of President Obama, reports Reuters. US popularity climbed from seventh place last year and is now ahead of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan.

"What's really remarkable is that in all my years studying national reputation, I have never seen any country experience such a dramatic change in its standing as we see for the United States for 2009," said Simon Anholt, the founder of NBI, which measures the global image of 50 countries each year.

According to Reuters, the global survey, conducted by GFK Roper Public Affairs & Media, involved 20,000 people in 20 rich and developing countries around the globe. They were asked to rate 50 nations in categories such as culture, governance, people, exports, tourism, landscape and education.

At the opposite end of the survey, Colombia and Kenya tied for 47th place. Angola was number 49 and Iran came in last at number 50.