Anyways, despite making the trip to lovely Copenhagen in an effort to steer the Olympics to Chicago, the Obama/Oprah delegation wasn't able to bring home the gold. Technically they were eliminated first, so they ain't even get bronze. What's lower than bronze? Aluminum? Copper?
[Editor's Aside: When you see dudes train their entire lives, only to finish dead last in their particular event, doesn't it just rip your heart out?!? Seriously, you could have NOT practiced at all and finished dead last. Is merely making the Olympics your consolation then? Somebody please Google and find me something that a last-place finisher has written to explain this experience. Thanks.]
Since the bid came up short, you know the usual suspects are already having a field day reveling in the fact that millions of "real Average Americans" just missed out on a once-in-a-generation opportunity for job creation and economic development. I'm willing to bet that if Obama walked across the Potomac tomorrow, these same folks would criticize him for not swimming instead. And I'm sure they'll sneer at the financial details of how much this failed excursion cost "real, Average American" taxpayers.
So much for all the speculation that President Obama went to Copenhagen because the fix was in for Chicago.While I dislike seeing how much stuff like this costs as well, lets use some perspective here: Anywhere the President goes, it's going to cost a damn grip simply cause it's the President. That's always been the case, but I've never seen such an obsession with such figures in the past. And it's not like this is money that would otherwise be going to feed some starving kids in Des Moines. Money for Presidential expenditures is budgeted at the start of the year just like all other gubb'ment spending, so it's not like this is cutting someone else short. Besides, these same folks would have blamed him for not trying to do more to help Chicago had he not gone and still failed, because each of the other three competing nations sent their heads of state. You just can't win for losing with some people.
Otherwise, why would he put the prestige of his high office on the line by making an expensive, time-consuming, high-profile trans-Atlantic trip only to return home empty-handed.
"We're obviously disappointed that we didn't win," says White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton. "The president did everything he could to bring the Olympics to our country."
In fact, he was the first U.S. president ever to make a personal appeal to the International Olympic Committee on behalf of an American city seeking to host the games.
The White House billed the trip as an "official" journey, so taxpayers picked up the costs for the slightly more than 14-hour round trip on Air Force One. The Defense Department pegs the operating costs for the president's 747 at $100,219 per flight hour. Double it to include the backup plane that always accompanies the president. Add the costs of the Air Force 757 that Mrs. Obama used to fly to Copenhagen earlier in the week. It adds up to nearly $3-million dollars. And that doesn't include the aircraft used to fly the presidential limousines and Secret Service vehicles there as well.
Some are going to say that Obama shouldn't have gone, and should have stayed his a$$ here working on passing healthcare legislation. Obama even said so himself a couple of weeks ago before changing his mind when he apparently realized the Chicago bid was suddenly on shaky ground. I think this is pretty silly, considering the fact that he travelled overnight, (I think Denmark is 6 hours ahead of DC time) only missed about 5 hours of work, and was already back to business talking to generals about strategy for Afghanistan just moments after he left the stage. And it ain't like he was flying on RyanAir or something, this is eff'in AirForce 1 we're talkin' about. You know what sorta technology and workplace setup AF1 has? I doubt he lacks the resources to get stuff done in the air. So kill the nonsense, you can multi-task, everyone does it. Besides, a quick Google News check indicates not much is getting done on the Hill today anyhow. So, much ado about nothing.
But perhaps the most galling argument versus going that I've heard is that Obama should instead be in Chicago trying to help solve the problems of urban poverty that lead to the untimely demise of young Derrion Albert. Some are even surmising that Chicago lost because the footage of the beating gave the city a bad image. That, my friends, has to be about the most ignant example of Backwards Negro Logic I've heard since T-Pain decided to apologize (via song) for being offended at Jay-Z for essentially offending him (WTH?!?). Honestly, what is yet another speech about keeping your nose in a book and off the corner going to do for the animals that beatdown a fellow student with a rail tire? Absolutely nothing. Urban children died before Derrion Albert, and have died since. This "drop everything else and react to an extreme media-fueled crisis" style of leadership is the very reason Negroes stay losin'. My guess is the prospect of doling out jobs had the Olympics been awarded far outweighed yet another speech that will go in one ear and out the other. So lets dead that one too.
Ultimately, Chi-Town prolly lost because the US has had three Olympiads in the past 25 years and 8 all-time, whereas there's never been one in South America. They were due, and there's not much that could have been done to overcome that. I give the President credit for taking a political risk anyway, knowing it might fail.
Question: Should Obama have bothered going to Copenhagen? Why did Chicago lose? Was this money wasted? Should Obama be more vocal about the Derrion Albert situation?
Obama's $3M Chicago Olympics Pitch Falls Short of the Gold [CBS]
[1] Honestly though, purposely avoiding Presidential politricks for a week has been a challenge, but a refreshing change of pace. Obama is sorta like my "go-to move". When you take someone's go-to move away, they gotta adjust their game. This week was practice on developing other go-to moves. I hope ya'll enjoyed.
