Thursday, October 01, 2009

GOP against staging the Olympics in Chicago?

President Barack Obama is in Copenhagen pitching Chicago to the International Olympic Committee. Chicago is in the running for hosting the 2016 Summer Olympics. The IOC will decide which city wins the prize.
The stakes could hardly be higher when more than 100 IOC members gather at Copenhagen's Bella Convention Center to choose between the rival bids of Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo. Though the contest has long been regarded by most Olympic experts as the closest ever, with four potential winners in the field, there is no doubt that the Obama factor weighs heavily and has ensured Chicago takes the role of front-runner.
Click here to read the entire article by Reuters.

Two years ago Chicago outlasted Houston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Francisco to become the sole American entry in the contest. In 1996 Atlanta hosted the Summer Olympics, which was the most recent time the games were held in the United States.

And, of course, there are those who have found fault with Obama’s attempt to bring the Olympics back to the United States. Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele weighed in.
"Where is the focus?" Steele asked. "At a time of war, at a time of recession ... I think this trip is nice but not necessary for the president. The goal should be creating job opportunities not seven years from now, but job opportunities today."
Click here to read the entire article in the Washington Post.

Perhaps Steele thinks all the venues and housing for the Olympics can be thrown up overnight. Seems to me it takes years to build that stuff. So, is he really worried about jobs? Does he really think there's something wrong with the president's one-day trip devoted to helping Chicago win the bid?

Or, is Steele simply trying to foul the air with anything negative he can think of to say about Obama?

Isn't it rather strange for Republicans to be so obsessed with driving the president's approval rating down that they seem to want Madrid, Rio or Tokyo to beat out Chicago?

One gets the feeling that if Obama called for a manned trip to Mars by 2020, Steele would say it’s criminal to ignore Venus. Then Rush Limbaugh would suggest Obama might have been born on Mars, so naturally he’d be prejudice against Venus. Glenn Beck would call for Obama to prove he isn't a Martian by birth.

5 comments:

Paul Hammond said...

For what it's worth, there are plenty of Chicagoans who do not want the Olympics either, but back to your point. Republicans (and others) would be complaining if he didn't go to Copenhagen.

F.T. Rea said...

Paul H, Yes, I read today that a poll says only 70-some percent of them want the Olympics.

Once again, I don't get your drift.

Paul Hammond said...

Many people are opposed to the Olymplics as a financial scam that will benefit the few instead of the many. Sort of like a Richmond stadium proposal on steroids, a legitimate position.

Secondly, Obama will get criicized no matter what he does by people who make their living that way.

I have no objections to either the Olymplics or his last minuite trip to nail the bid.

F.T. Rea said...

Paul H, well, now it's a moot point. Chicago is out of the running. So, I suppose the anti-Obama forces are happy.

Personally, I could hardly care less about the Olympics, Summer or Winter. My post was about the foaming-at-the-mouth anti-Obama crowd, and how far it is willing go to bash him.

FanGuy said...

Once again Obama's inexperience is showing. It was very unwise for him to go to Copenhagen. He should have sent a surrogate - either just his wife, or Joe Biden (do they have him locked away underground these days or what?) . Politically, it was a high risk, low reward move for him with everything else is going on, and he is paying the price.

Personally, I think it's good that the IOC chose Rio, since the games have never been in S. America.

In the end, though, the IOC, and to some degree, the entire Olympic Games, are corrupt, so I really couldn't care less where they go as long as it doesn't negatively impact my life.