Incredibly, President and Mrs. Obama (along with Her Majesty, Oprah) could not convince the Olympic Committee that Chicago is the Bethlehem of America where the Messiah was born... Okay, that was cruel. Let's try that again...
The Olympic Committee, too smart to buy into the usual Obama barrage of his self-inflated ego (his story, or Michelle's father's Multiple Sclerosis story), failed to be convinced that Chicago was their kind of town for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.
Past presidents, including Jimmy Carter surprisingly, were all too smart to make the trip to Copenhagen or wherever to lobby for the US to host the games, because without a guaranteed pick it's a break-even or lose situation --break even if we get it and lose if we don't. And when the leader of a country, and I don't care which country, spends months trashing his own country's reputation on one apology tour after another, he/she won't have much credibility when it comes time to sell the notion of how wonderful we are and deserving to play host to the Olympics.
Another reason Obama blew it is that anyone can see what direction the US is headed with its $12 Trillion debt and the likelihood of it doubling. Where will the US be 7 years from now in 2016? Likely bankrupt at the current pace. Who wants to have an Olympics in a ghost town of a dust-bowl nation? Even though Brazil is much poorer (GNP) than we are, they are growing in the right direction and will be even more powerful economically by 2016. Spain will probably still be coasting along like it has since Barcelona, but at least not bankrupt.
What I cannot understand is why Obama didn't push the fact that in Chicago the home team almost always loses. That would be great for the other countries competing against us, and one would think, a positive message for each Committeeman to take back to his/her homeland. It would have been a slam-dunk, IMHO. He could've made the presentation wearing a Cub's hat to drive the message home.
The networks were shocked. The people of Chicago waiting for the news in Daley Plaza were stunned like little ducklings smacked on the head. They wandered about aimlessly twitching their heads, asking "how could this happen?" With the exception of Team Jordan, all Chicago teams take their fans to the brink of victory and then collapse in defeat. It's usually the law of nature in Chicago, so it should have come as no surprise to them. But they continue to hope for change in their own naive kind of way....
Can you tell I'm enjoying this a little bit?
Picture above from Newsday.com.
On the one hand, we already know that Obama can't make the ocean levels lower, or make the temperatures cool (God and nature are doing that quite nicely, thank you) despite his hubris, arrogance and messianic complex.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I am struck to the quick by your casual dismissal of Chicago sports teams.
The White Sox won the World Series in 2005. The Bulls won the NBA title in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997 and 1998. The Bears won the Super Bowl in January 1985.
And, as for the Cubs, as all sports fans know, every team should be allowed a losing century.
Paul