The Triumph of the (Olympic) Will
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Time to move on from the blame game.
Much is being made by Liberals and Conservatives over Chicago losing their Olympic bid.
Over at The Patriot Room we find the Chicago Tribune blaming Bush for the loss:
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.”
Others say Obama embarrassed himself and lost political points for flying over to lend his support for Chicago:
He came, he pitched and he flew back empty-handed.
Even before Chicago was eliminated, critics had lampooned Barack Obama’s trip to Copenhagen as a misplaced exercise in “verbal gymnastics”. But Friday’s embarrassing first-round elimination is likely to cause Mr Obama more problems back home.
On Friday Mr Obama’s critics on the right were joined by many in the media, which had already raised questions about his priorities.
More immediately, the rejection is likely to intensify questions about Mr Obama’s allegedly vaunting self-belief. Although Mr Obama spent only a few hours in the Danish capital, and although other leaders were there to bat on behalf of their cities, Barack and Michelle Obama couched their pitches in biographical terms. By personalising Chicago’s appeal, Mr Obama put his own reputation on the line.
Montreal paid off their Olympic debt after 30 years!
I have to say… who cares..? I live in San Francisco and when this city put their bid in for the Olympics it started years before. Officials flew here and evaluated the roads, the public transportation system, the sports facilities, listened to politicians, etc… Did SF lose because it wasn’t “international” enough or not Conservative enough (or too
Liberal)? While politics probably plays a role in every important decision the fact is this is something people are just trying to pin on Bush or Obama. Give it a rest, people.
One thing the Financial Times did raise in their story on this (quoted directly above) is what Obama said:
“Nearly one year ago, on a clear November night, people from every corner of the world gathered in the city of Chicago?.?.?.?to watch the results of the US presidential election,” Mr Obama told the Olympic committee. “Their interest wasn’t about me as an individual?.?.?.?Rather, it was rooted in the belief that America’s experiment in democracy still speaks to a set of universal aspirations and ideals?.?.?.?And so I urge you to choose Chicago!”
The thing that I take discomfort in is that Obama thought he could put on a song and dance and turn on the charm and this would somehow decide things in his favor. Sorry to break the news to him but 99.9% of the decision was probably already made.
It’s probably better the games never came to Chicago… after all, residents there were concerned about the taxes they’d have to pay and the possibility that the games could cost residents there a fortune if they flopped (or what about a terrorist attack?). Those fears are not unfounded as this story was reported in 2006:
Montreal’s Olympic Stadium needs a new nickname — the Big Owe no longer applies because Quebecers have finally paid off their $1.5-billion debt from the 1976 Summer Games.
Officials from the Olympic Installations Board, which oversees the stadium, have confirmed that the last payment was made in mid-November, three decades after the world descended on Montreal for the Games.
And so I say to those who would blame Bush… get a life. And those who would blame Obama… give it up. And to Obama I have to tell him that the sophistry of speech isn’t working out so well for him on Cap and Trade, Obamakare, Afghanistan, Iraq, North Korea, Israel, or Iran.
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10:20 AM
Obama’s speech is completely nonsensical and his charm is flaccid. The simple fact that he and his wife took separate flights at taxpayer expense illustrates he has no financial acumen. A concern of mine is that people will not see beyond his cult of personality until we are completely bankrupt on a governmental level, as well as individual level.
BTW: You live in San Francisco? My wife and I live in Reno, Nv. and we travel to your area every year (but we stay in Pacifica). Your political philosophy in such an environment must prove to be interesting indeed.
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11:46 AM
I avoid talking politics unless someone challenges me then I’ll discuss it with him.
1:36 PM
I can’t believe that the President of the most powerful country in the world went abroad to beg for the Olympics. Where do the Olympics stand in the scheme of important things to do. While soldiers are dying, the Wars beg for decisions to be taken by this indecisive man.
1:41 PM
I don’t know that it is abnormal for a world leader to make a pitch for his country to host the Olympics, and Obama did meet with the general he appointed for Afghanistan while he was overseas however the type of speech he made is something with which I don’t agree.
10:34 PM
He should have just sent the IOC a book on tape for the Audacity of Hope. If the Obamas’ victimization narratives aren’t enough to convince the IOC to let Chicago host the olympics, then I have completely lost hope.
.-= burro´s last blog ..Reset Button =-.
11:22 PM
TO BURRO: Well said Sir.
11:59 PM
The thing that bothered me were the conservative commentators (Hannity, Limbaugh, etc.) who seemed to take a special glee in the fact that Chicago’s bid lost. To me, that is unseemly. That is unpatriotic. And I agree with you that it doesn’t matter who the president is, and it probably didn’t matter that much to the IOC either. And the main reason that Chicago lost out was that Brazil made a very compelling case that it was about time the Olympics were held in South America.
.-= Joe Markowitz´s last blog ..Senate Finance Committee members tell the truth. =-.
1:00 AM
Yes except that Rio is a shit hole with enough crime and corruption to make Chicago look like a kindergarten class. I wouldn’t call it unpatriotic but I would call it overly partisan and unseemly.
4:46 AM
Frankly the Olympics is and could be an economic boom for any city, yes it may fail, but if it succeeds the economic impact is potentially great.
Frankly rather than simply printing money this seems to be a more logical and worthwhile expense of taxpayer money.
Although I don’t agree with his policies in general, I think that he made a worthwhile effort to bring actual jobs to this country.
So my Kudos to Obama..That’s one positive and about 1,000,000,000,000,000 about the size of national deficit…18,000,000 about the number of unemployed…
10:24 AM
I think he tried but I think it was poorly planned. Some on the Right are just looking for any excuse to pound Obama but I think that just makes them look badly. MegaMan could have helped win the Olympics for the US!
6:30 AM
Harrison – You might be right. I was only expressing the sentiments of the ladies in my Senior Building. I guess we have a high opinion of the USA President’s place in the world. We thought it was demeaning for him to do a sales pitch. It is a commercial venture after all. Not a high diplomatic mission. To send his wife should have been sufficient. We’re Canadians; we have no intense partisanship. We’re just a little bit old fashioned, I guess. So far, whenever your president has spoken, it always has been to sell himself. He’s still campaigning. Somebody should tell him it’s over. Thank you for your attention.
10:19 AM
British Prime Minister Tony Blair did the same thing when London was in the running… but check this link out:
http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/789
Seems many were put off by Obama’s fly-in/fly-out thing.
And sending Oprah? That was a bit much, too.
5:21 PM
The president of Brazil traveled to Copenhagen personally to make his country’s pitch for the Olympics. I wonder if his political opponents criticized him for doing that. Somehow I doubt it.
.-= Joe Markowitz´s last blog ..Senate Finance Committee members tell the truth. =-.
5:34 PM
His country won.