I thought that when Barack Obama was elected, it would mean (in addition to lowering the ocean and all of the other things) a restoration of international respect for the benighted nation that had suffered under the BusHitler regime, and that we’d get better cooperation from the world. So, imagine my shock when I hear that, after spending hundreds of thousands (probably millions) of your and my money on an Air Force One flight to Copenhagen to lobby for his corrupt home town to get the Olympics, he gets shut out.
I have to confess that I had badly misunderestimated these peoples’ political ineptitude. I had just sort of assumed that, like much of what the administration does, this was just a photo op to impress the booboisie, and that the Windy City Olympic bid was a done deal. I mean, what American president with an ounce of political sense would risk getting so publicly spurned on the international stage?
But then, the question sort of answers itself, doesn’t it? Anyway, if I were a Chicago resident, I’d be cheering. I wouldn’t wish an Olympics on anyone.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Yes, it does seem like a missed opportunity for synergy:
Here is why Chicago should win: The International Olympic Committee is one of the most disgusting, corrupt organizations in the world. Placing the games in Chicago is a match made in Heaven. If there were a competition for graft, Chicago would regularly win bronze, silver and gold. Bring on the synchronized corruption.
On the other hand, Rio’s no piker when it comes that sort of thing, either.
[Update a few minutes later]
Ramesh agrees with me:
Obviously I had way too much confidence in the Obama administration’s political skills. But I’m sure that Obama will be a lot more persuasive with the Iranians.
As Paul Dietz said in comments, dry humor is the best kind.
[Update a few minutes later]
I’m sure I’ll be neither the first or last to note it, but obviously, the IOC is racist.
[Update a few minutes later]
To elaborate on the serious, and concerning point:
Diplomacy 101 tells us that your head of state only shows up on the high-profile stage when a deal is complete. The lesson that most politicians learn well before they gain positions of power is that diplomacy is done by diplomats, professionals who work through all the negotiations and the hardball tactics and the carrot/stick combinations. The principals in the matter gather to discuss high-level topics and to smile for the cameras as the agreement is being signed. Heads of state do not conduct diplomacy, they ratify it, and surprises are entirely unwelcome at those summits and signing events (hence Reagan’s anger in Iceland.)
Why were you and Ramesh surprised? Because you thought that President Obama at least knew this very basic lesson. Today’s announcement suggests that he does not, and it just got advertised big-time to countries who already were pretty sure we had a rookie at the helm who didn’t know how to use international power. President Obama just got upstaged by an organization against whom no retaliation is acceptable, and he wants to meet with the Iranians next month? We are in deep, deep trouble.
Yes.
I had already noted my underestimation of the political ineptitude, even after all the other blunders we’ve seen in the first eight months of this administration. I won’t make that mistake again. I suspect that a lot of people won’t. I’ll be interested to see his poll numbers next week.
[Late morning update]
Instapundit is disappointed:
That’s too bad. I was kinda looking forward to seeing President Palin speak at the opening ceremonies…
Yeah, it would have been a nice way to kick off her campaign for reelection.
Ah well, so much for “smart diplomacy.”
[Late morning update]
Why didn’t Obama see this coming? He spends all this time, gets all this press, uses all this political capital to promote Chicago, and then loses? What an amateur. Prosecutors don’t ask witnesses questions in court unless they’re sure of the answers. Presidents don’t stake their personal reputations on contests whose outcomes are uncertain. Very foolish move. No wonder he can’t get health care passed.
If I were a Democrat, my morale, and confidence in this president, would be at an all-time low today. But then, I’m not a Democrat, and it was never high to start with.
[Early afternoon update]
The top ten reasons Chicago didn’t get the Olympics:
10. Dead people can’t vote at IOC meetings.
9. Obama distracted by 25-minute meeting with Gen. McChrystal.
8. Who cares if Obama couldn’t talk the IOC into Chicago? He’ll be able to talk Iran out of nukes.
7. The impediment is Israel still building settlements.
6. Obviously no president would have been able to accomplish it.
Follow the link for the top five.
The Obamas traveled separately. Michelle flew over in a tricked out 757 a couple nights before BO flew over on Air Force One (747). Whenever the president travels, there are other planes carrying the support equipment (helicopters and/or armored car), the security detail, etc. It was an expensive trip.
From the news coverage, it seemed the Obamas’ presentation was mostly about how they felt about Chicago hosting the Olympics and their personal story. It’s all about them, no matter what the subject.
Tokyo was also eliminated in the first round, probably because China just hosted. Spain hosted the summer games in 1992 (Barcelona) so perhaps the odds-on favorite is Rio. Mexico City hosted the Olympics in 1968 but no South American country has ever hosted the games.
[nelsonmuntz]Ha Ha![/nelsonmuntz]
I’m spelling his name “Pwbama” today. He got pwn3d.
Actually, according to wikipedia, (Yeah, I know) Chicago was eliminated in the first round, and Tokyo was eliminated in the second.
He takes time to do this, but won’t take the time to discharge his duty as Commander in Chief of the armed forces and makes some decisions about supporting the troops in Afghanistan. Our people are literally dying over there because of his inaction. I hope he can make up his mind soon whether he’s President of the United States or Mayor of Chicago.
The Obama’s are like the chubby girl with small breasts in highschool who REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to be liked.
Loud Arrogant and trashy, but DON’T YOU JUDGE THEM!
MfK, he knows exactly who he is: the Campaigner-In-Chief.
Does this mean the rest of the world is racist?
He went to Denmark to make it right
The Olympic games are in Rio tonight.
Mmm Mmm Mmmmmm
Barack Hussein Obama
He really is out of his depth, isn’t he?
That’s an honest shame. I regret it. The United States should not have a fool for a President. What a pity that the Clintons were such cannibals. Who is now left to put together the pieces of the once-proud Democratic Party after this quaint clown and his stupidly arrogant starry-eyed Internetz generation clique auger it in to the mud up to the empennage?
Considering how many times the US ends up with the Olympics compared to other continents, much less countries; I would have thought Obama would have apologized for the US ego of thinking we deserved another one.
Congratulations to Rio… And I’m sure the Athletes can’t wait to hang out in the Olympic Village there between competitions.
Now, now, MfK, Obama discharged his duty. He met with General McChrystal for a whole twenty-five minutes on the tarmac in Denmark before heading home. He’s got priorities, see.
Meanwhile, we get the spectacle. The God of the Machine meets the Gods of Olympus and is found (and left) wanting. Can’t wait to see what Iowahawk makes of it.
Hopefully Jim will be by shortly to tell us all how this was actually a win for Barry O.
Diplomacy 101 tells us that your head of state only shows up on the high-profile stage when a deal is complete. The lesson that most politicians learn well before they gain positions of power is that diplomacy is done by diplomats, professionals who work through all the negotiations and the hardball tactics and the carrot/stick combinations. The principals in the matter gather to discuss high-level topics and to smile for the cameras as the agreement is being signed. Heads of state do not conduct diplomacy, they ratify it, and surprises are entirely unwelcome at those summits and signing events (hence Reagan’s anger in Iceland.)
I found this paragraph bizarre. No acknowledgment that all four finalist nations sent their leaders. Spain even sent its PM and its extremely experienced King whom we all cheered when he made a fool of Venezuela’s Chavez. Three of the four countries’ leaders were going to be disappointed, yet they all showed up.
But I picked out this paragraph because of the Iceland reference. Didn’t Reagan introduce the element of surprise, shocking even his aides? I think he was fantastic at that summit by the way – I’m not criticizing Reagan – his surprise offer may have convinced Gorbachev of Regan’s sincerity and emboldened Gorby to continue with his reform program.
Wasn’t the Spanish King (whose name escapes me right now) formerly, and for a long time, the head of the IOC site-selection committee? I was under the impression that that was why he had gone to Copenhagen (and was a large part of why Madrid was still in the running as late as it was. 1992 wasn’t really all that long ago, after all).
“No acknowledgment that all four finalist nations sent their leaders.”
You think it is possible they actually went simply because there was an opportunity to get their picture taken with President Potato Head?
No acknowledgment that all four finalist nations sent their leaders.
Yes, but Bob, what you don’t get — what the Obamateur doesn’t get — is that the United States of America is (or ought to be) different. That’s why we have one of the five permanent seats on the UN Security Council, and Spain and Brazil do not. That’s why the dollar is the world’s reserve currency and the peseta or real are not.
That doofus in the White House thinks lowering the US to equivalence with every other nation, from Spain (which is relatively harmless) to Rusisia and China (ugh), or Libya and Iran (blech), is in some bizarre sense some kind of noble gesture, like Jimmy Carter thought walking his inaugural route was.
It’s not. It just cheapens and smudges Lady Liberty’s lamp.
If google for keywords such as madrid king olympics, you can see for yourself that both the King and the Spanish PM were sent as lobbyists for Madrid’s bid.
Furthermore, this isn’t the first year that heads of state have shown up for the Olympic decision but were disappointed. It has been happening since 2005. Here’s an article which includes discussion of disappointed (and surprised?) heads of state at these decisions:
“www.reuters.com/article/olympicsNews/idUSLN03410820090924”
And back to the King, here’s evidence that he was an unsuccessful lobbyist:
“As a Madrid campaigner I can say that President Obama is an extraordinary personality,” Spanish IOC member Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., son of the former IOC president, said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday.
“That’s one extraordinary personality. We will bring His Majesty the King of Spain, that’s one, and Prime Minister Zapatero, that’s two. So that’s two against one.”
That’s why the dollar is the world’s reserve currency and the peseta or real are not.
Not for much longer, not with this gang in charge.
Yes, that the president went is just another demonstration that he doesn’t believe in American exceptionalism, or even understand what it is. In his own eyes, he’s just another leader of another country, begging for the Olympics (for his home town). Pathetic.
Carl, your sentiments are not in keeping with the Olympic Spirit. If you feel the USA can’t compete on a level playing field, showing good sportsmanship, maybe the US should stay home from the games, to show how special we are.
We are special, in our democratic ideals and our tradition of freedom. But this is sports, where we should play fair.
The Olympics is already unfairly biased toward nations with large populations- I would rather see competitions between similar sized cities. Division I, Division II, etc, just like in other sports venues.
Well, no president had ever done this before, for whatever that’s worth. And just a few weeks ago, Obama publicly stated that he couldn’t go, because healthcare reform was too important for him to take the time.
I’m sorry, but this is clearly amateur hour. The president had no business going, and he definitely had no business going when he didn’t know the result. It’s not a big deal, in and of itself, but it does show a lack of aptitude for foreign relations. Not unlike the SoS.
I wish people would forget their politics for a moment and think about the potential danger of unqualified politicians calling the shots. If you’re a Democrat, all of this could very well mean a complete turnover by 2012. If I were you, I’d think hard before jumping off the cliff with the administration. Congress may very well turn on him before the 2010 election, too, just to avoid a possible backlash affecting their seats.
HA HA HA HA HA – wait — why am I feeling guilty about laughing at another’s failures? Oh yes, cause it was BO, MO and BigO who failed!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Carl, your sentiments are not in keeping with the Olympic Spirit.
Balls. The Olympic motto, you may recall, is Citius, Altius, Fortius. They do not hand out gold medals for trying real hard, or being a really good sport and letting a deserving kid from a poor African nation get ahead of you in the 440 because, well, he seems to deserve it so much better than some wealthy Wheaties-endorsing American athlete with two homes and five personal trainers. No, you get a gold medal for being better than everybody else, for whipping them mercilessly, leaving them in the dust.
The “Olympic Spirit” of which you speak is some kind of sad Harrison Bergeron thing, where you would strap weights to Carl Lewis’s legs so anyone could have a decent shot at beating him.
I’m sorry, but this is clearly amateur hour.
I agree. It’s sad that the apologists are giving him such a pass based on ideology. Love is blind.
Carl, do your comments apply to the division system in high school and college sports? Because that’s the only kind of handicapping I wrote about.
As I pointed out to someone else, “Barcelona had the Olympics in 1992” is a pretty ridiculous reason to discount or disqualify Madrid. Unless one ignores “Atlanta had the Olympics in 1996” and “Salt Lake City had the Olympics in 2002”, of course…
LoL
Considering how many times the US ends up with the Olympics compared to other continents, much less countries; I would have thought Obama would have apologized for the US ego of thinking we deserved another one.
Clearly that conflicted with the desire to have his home city get to host the Olympics, and, and that won.
As I pointed out to someone else, “Barcelona had the Olympics in 1992″ is a pretty ridiculous reason to discount or disqualify Madrid. Unless one ignores “Atlanta had the Olympics in 1996″ and “Salt Lake City had the Olympics in 2002″, of course
But London will host the 2012 games, so if Madrid had won, that would be two European countries hosting the Olympics in a row. That hasn’t happened in decades. The US has hosted the summer Olympics 4 times (1904, 1932, 1984, and 1996). Europe has hosted many times and will host again in 2012. China just hosted the 2008 games, so holding it again in Asia in 2016 may have been too close. No African or South American country has hosted an Olympics yet so that probably counted a lot in Rio’s favor.
Today’s vote could also be a slap at Obama for his shabby treatment of several of our European allies. When you screw over your friends (like the did to the British, Czecks, Poles, France), don’t be surprised if they take the opportunity to screw you back.
Bob, your metaphors here are getting highly mixed, but as I understood you, you felt that by throwing the weight of its wealth and influence around — not humbling itself to the stature of, say, Spain, with its economy smaller than that of California — the United States woudl not be “playing fair” in the spirit of the Olympics.
I pointed out that this would be equivalent of strapping weights to Carl Lewis’s legs before he ran the 100 meter dash, handicapping him, so that he wouldn’t “unfairly” use his superior athletic prowess, the way the US would be “unfairly” using its economic and political prowess in a competition for the Games (if that’s about which we are talking), and, more broadly, for influence and dominance in the world at large.
I’ll stake out a position here. I think the “Olymipic spirit” doesn’t point at all to a culture of “dialogue” and “mutual respect” and cultural equivalence between the heirs of Washington, Madison, and Lincoln, on the one hand, and the gangster nations of Africa or Islamic and Maoist Asia on the other.
To the contrary, I think the “Olympic spirit” points towards frank competition and existential struggle. As an American, and a proud one, my goal is not to have one big happy world in which I “understand” the burqua, suicide bombing with a half-pound of C4 up your ass, and clitorectomies for all good girls at age 14. My goal is to compete with, dominate, and ultimately exterminate such value systems, replacing them with American-born values that cherish the liberty of every man. (Please note that I do not suggest extermninating people, only corrupt and wicked value systems.)
Carl,
No, I wasn’t saying anything like that.
First, I pointed out that “American Exceptionalism”, while laudable in terms of political ideology, is not compatible with the spirit of the olympics in which countries meet as equals to compete on a level playing field. That’s why the Olympics are the best when political differences between countries (however stark and important otherwise) are left outside the stadium.
Second, I pointed out that the olympics are already biased in favor of countries with large populations. High school sports have the same problem, which is rectified by not having high school teams from schools of 75 kids compete against teams from schools having an enrollment of 2,500 or more. This bias is also present when selecting host cities. I’d prefer to see Olympics with teams which are city-oriented. But that point was tangential to Obama’s role.
What the heck are you talking about, Bob? Nations never meet “as equals” on any field of competition at all. You’re speaking as if nations are something like individual organisms, like people, with a genetic blueprint that ensures they are all roughly equal in some basic way. As if there is some meaning to “meeting as equals” in the sense that men can agree to meet “as equals” meaning they do not ride bicycles in the footrace, or agree to gladiator combat using the same weapons, or have weight leagues in wrestling.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Nations are if anything inherently unequal because they are wholly artificial constructs, built freely by men according to the scheme that seems right to them — and what has seemed right has varying starkly over history. Since there is no, or very little, commonality underlying the nature of nations, they tend intrinsically to follow divergent paths over time, both culturally, politically, and economically. You need only look at the history of drift following the separation of once-related polities — Gaul and Germania, England and the United States, East and West Germany, mainland China and Taiwan, North and South Korea, and on and on. Nations with sound cultures becomes wealthier and more powerful, nations with sick cultures become oppressive and poor.
And how would you even judge “equality” between nations? Is the United States “advantaged” relative to, say, Australia because it has more wealth per capita for training? Is Kenya “advantaged” relative to the US in track because of the genetic heritage of its people?
Who cares? Athletic competiations are about being the best, period, not the “best” after weighting and handicapping in some weird way so that everyone has a “fair” chance, whatever that means. The only restriction is that everyone has to compete under the same rules (and even there, with the advent of high-tech training and equipment, that is a bit dubious).
Comparing it to high-school sports is nuts, because, first, the purpose of high-school sports is in part educational, not simply a search for the best, and physical education indeed suffers if you never get to play because you suck, or you just don’t — can’t — have the depth of talent of a big school. Secondly, you have different leagues in high school, and you acknowledge up front that the winners of the less demanding leagues are not in the same league, so to speak, as the winners of the best. But there’s no such thing as AAA Olympic sports, nor would it make sense for there to be. It’s the top, the creme de la creme, the most major of major leagues, the purpose being to find the best in the world, period.
I suppose I could also point out that formally there is no competition between nations in the Olympics. Every athlete in principle enters as an individual, which is why it is not nonsenical to have every entrant in a final heat from the same nation (if the competition were between nations, not individuals, this would make no sense).
Isn’t that why there are so much variety of sports competitions in the Olympics? Like someone from Switzerland is probably gonna do better in the cross country skiing. Or, someone from China is gonna do really well at Ping Pong. Or, an African is gonna dominate in a Marathon. Oh, I’m sorry I just did a Jimmy the Greek there. *Screams at self* RAAACCCIIIISSTT
When the US team walks into the opening ceremonies alongside other national teams, the philosophy of American Exceptionalism is not relevant. Do you agree?
My claim is that when the President of the United States lobbies alongside other countries’ prime ministers, presidents and kings for an olympic event , American Exceptionalism also is not relevant, because the philosophy of American Exceptionalism isn’t relevant in the context of the Olympics.
The other stuff, about Division I, Division II, etc, I brought up because I thought it might be interesting, but it is not directly relevant to Obama’s choice to go to Copenhagen. You’re right about the nature of individual competition, but I thinking of the game of national medal counts. I regret bringing the subject up, as it seems to have driven you to ascribe philosophies to me that I simply do not have. I understand you are full of thoughtful political commentary, and I almost always enjoy reading what you have to say, but in this case, you are talking about topics that have barely any relationship to anything I wrote, and certainly no relationship to anything I meant. They are fine topics, but I don’t see them as a coherent reply to what I wrote.
I think the issue of whether President Obama is an amateur for not knowing what the outcome of a secret ballot would be, particularly when it was compared to President Reagan’s surprising offers in Iceland.
Correction: I think the issue of whether President Obama is an amateur for not knowing what the outcome of a secret ballot would be is more interesting, particularly when we compare Obama’s preparation to President Reagan’s surprising offers in Iceland, as the national review commentary did.
Carl gets the gold. Bob-1… thanks for showing up.
I was rooting for Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Please answer me this: why, aside from graft and/or threat, would anyone pick Chicago over Rio to host an Olympics? It’s Bambi vs. Godzilla. Rio has sparkling beaches in an exotic locale. What does Chicago have that can compete with that? The Field Museum? Yerkes? (Okay, I’d pick those spots over the beach, but I’m a statistical outlier.) Sears Tower? Al Capone’s vault? Obama’s Annenberg Challenge archives?
Then again, the O’Hare terminal would be a great spot to stage an Olympic relay…
How many IOC members are African-American? How many are black?
BBB
“When the US team walks into the opening ceremonies alongside other national teams, the philosophy of American Exceptionalism is not relevant. Do you agree?
My claim is that when the President of the United States lobbies alongside other countries’ prime ministers, presidents and kings for an olympic event , American Exceptionalism also is not relevant, because the philosophy of American Exceptionalism isn’t relevant in the context of the Olympics.”
Are you sure you live in the US? Because the whole point of our Exceptionism is the success of the individual without the state impeding their progress. You can’t get any more relevant than that. Any President that doesn’t pursue that is going against the reason we exist.
Damn Bob, put down the Kool-Aid and step away.
the philosophy of American Exceptionalism isn’t relevant in the context of the Olympics.
WTF?
It’s obvious the president has never watched the Olympics, or at least never watched the opening ceremonies, because if ever there was an example of who, We, the People, are it’s those American kids on parade. Talk about diversity! I have tears in my eyes when I watch them.
While other countries have athletics who look like their native people, our athletes look like a microcosm of all the peoples of the world from the pale northern whites to the black African. That’s what we are and we don’t Obama telling anyone that he’s going to make us more diverse.
We need our president to brag on us, not apologize for us.
It’s obvious the president has never watched the Olympics, or at least never watched the opening ceremonies, because if ever there was an example of who, We, the People, are it’s those American kids on parade. Talk about diversity! I have tears in my eyes when I watch them.
While other countries have athletics who look like their native people, our athletes look like a microcosm of all the peoples of the world from the pale northern white to the black African and every shade in between. That’s what we are and we don’t Obama telling anyone that he’s going to make us more diverse.
We need our president to brag on us, not apologize for us.
Sorry, I have no idea how or why there is a double post, but while I’m here again anyway, I’ll take a stab at answering bbbeard’s question about how many IOC members are black. My guess is 17.
erp:
Are you an HCSSiM grad? 😉
BBB
Leland:
Obviously the era of American Olympic dominance ended in 1904…. Ah, St. Louis! The “good” Olympics….
BBB
bbbeard
Do you mean the Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics? Not likely. I was graduated from high school in 1952, but I was a math major in college, if that counts.
erp:
Yes, Hampshire’s summer program (which I attended in 1974 and where I taught in 1977) makes quite a phenomenal fetish of the number 17….
BBB
BBB,
Well, 1980 was a different kind of American Exceptionalism…
Hey, maybe that’s what this Copenhagen trip was for Obama. President Obama wanted to show how different he is from Jimmy Carter.
I question if most of the Winter weather through the northern half of the globe is regarded as because of the cut sunspot event, if a continuous degree of dropped sunspot process probably would greatly influence this level of global warming.