# Reaction to Chicago's failed Olympics bid **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 2, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-chicagos-failed-olympics-bid/512372 "2009-10-02T17:43:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-chicagos-failed-olympics-bid/512372/61 "2009-10-05T00:03:44Z")
I see the episode as illustrating the profound corruption of the Obama regime. This guy owes a lot to his backers (the Cook County/Chicago Mob). The big real estate guys stood to make a fortune off the Olympics-the fact that Obama could not deliver bodes ill for his political future. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-chicagos-failed-olympics-bid/512372/62 "2009-10-05T00:06:55Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > It’s a fine reason for the president to go to Denmark, and also shows that Obama wasn’t just slackin off by cutting brush in Crawford; not that our last president was ever actually _not_ working hard. I don’t understand your position. Are you trying to say that the President and the First Lady’s flights involving a 747, a 757 and all the support aircraft/cars/secret service were justified by a meeting with a General which required yet another aircraft. Is that your position? Seriously? The money wasted on the General’s flight alone would have been over $8,000. It was a 25 minute meeting on the tarmac that could have been done with a teleconference on AF1 for free. How is this a fine reason? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-chicagos-failed-olympics-bid/512372/63 "2009-10-05T00:13:54Z")
1. IMO, the US isn’t getting the games for a while. IOC has lately leaned into a position that host cities must provide a guarantee from the host _nation_ as to who will cover any budget overruns, and in the US that is not going to happen. Also, after the SLC scandals, the selection committee can no longer junket to the candidate towns to be fêted in style as they oncve used to; they probably resent that too (and as usual feel it’s not their fault for being corrupt but ours for not having been able to keep it quiet). 2. This was one very wasteful calling in of chips for Daley with the Obamas, but I can understand that Daley probably would have been in hot water with his base and donors if he could not deliver an endorsement from the President. Though I can imagine some future favor-calling can end up along the lines of: D: _“You gotta get me those earmarks. After you went and we washed out you owe the hometown crowd to throw somethign our way.”_ O: _“You gotta be joking. You make me waste my time doing a Chamber of Commerce pitch, for nothing, and now I owe YOU?”_ 3. God, I can’t wait for Oprah Winfrey to announce her retirement. 4. As someone mentioned above, the early washout of Chicago may have been an instance of “strategic” bloc-voting to eliminate what had been until then the primary contender to be in the final with Rio, achieved by the Brazilians actually having done some good, hard lobbying legwork not just at the IOC but with the member Committees, specially with the Africans and the rest of the Americas. 5. Honduras, schmonduras. Outside of Latin America nobody really cares, PLUS the US is doing the right thing (no even Zelaya wants us to actually intervene to overthrow the coup and restore him at the point of American guns, figurative or literal) for a change. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-chicagos-failed-olympics-bid/512372/64 "2009-10-05T00:15:19Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > How is this a fine reason? It used to be that our president would fly to Baghdad with a cardboard turkey for Thanksgiving, and this was a noble and proper endeavor. It used to be that our president would delay an aircraft carriers homecoming so that he could parade his manly bits around the deck in a too tight flight suit, and this was _wonderful_ beyond compare. Now I see a president trying to bring an economic boost to a major American city, and talk to his top general about conducting a war that the previous administration left to rot for seven years, and people have the gall to bitch about plane fare? To hell with em. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-chicagos-failed-olympics-bid/512372/65 "2009-10-05T00:19:36Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I see the episode as illustrating the profound corruption of the Obama regime. This guy owes a lot to his backers (the Cook County/Chicago Mob). The big real estate guys stood to make a fortune off the Olympics-the fact that Obama could not deliver bodes ill for his political future. It illustrates quite well that you just made up a bunch of crap-ola. You assume that Obama is corrupt, therefore this illustrates his corruptness? What? Do you think that this is a logical argument? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-chicagos-failed-olympics-bid/512372/66 "2009-10-05T00:35:03Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Do you believe crap like that? Obama can do more than one thing at a time. Hard to say but it took him 3 months to pick out a dog and even then it took a dying Senator’s intervention so we really can’t give him credit for that. > [@gonzomax](#): > > He has computers and phones. He is always in contact with his people. Does the war all boil down to the day he was gone? Can nothing be done ? I guess he should lock himself into a cell and just think about Afghanistan for a couple days. No TV ,no family ,no health care ,just war. Then you would complain about that. While he was working on the Chicago Olympic bid he could have been working on something else. We’re at war and he can’t make up his mind about troop strengths. We are in the middle of the worst economic event in the last 70 years which involves a housing crisis, a banking crisis, and high unemployment. These are the problems he should be working on. He’s accomplished nothing (add this to his list). Flying across an ocean to hand out autographs wasn’t going to change anyone’s mind. He had nothing extra to bring to the meeting except a smile and a huge carbon foot print (at tax payer’s expense). ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-chicagos-failed-olympics-bid/512372/67 "2009-10-05T00:56:01Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > It used to be that our president would fly to Baghdad with a cardboard turkey for Thanksgiving, and this was a noble and proper endeavor. It used to be that our president would delay an aircraft carriers homecoming so that he could parade his manly bits around the deck in a too tight flight suit, and this was _wonderful_ beyond compare. It use to be that Presidents supported the troops. This one couldn’t make a decision about a dog let alone the extra troops needed. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-chicagos-failed-olympics-bid/512372/68 "2009-10-05T01:00:01Z")
Never mind, really not relevant ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-chicagos-failed-olympics-bid/512372/69 "2009-10-05T01:04:36Z")
**Magiver** , why don’t you support the troops? When did you stop supporting them? ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-chicagos-failed-olympics-bid/512372/70 "2009-10-05T11:29:40Z")
Whoever advised him that this venture was worth the risk of the political capitol was sorely mistaken. On the other hand, it could well have been at the request of the Chicago machine, to which Obama owes his political existence. One can only imagine the Obama media fanfare that would have taken place had the results been different. In reality, we have a public slap down by the IOC and a president returning hime with his tail tucked between his legs (or at least that will be the impression fostered by too large of a % of the populace). At best, he has returned with a badly tarnished star. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-chicagos-failed-olympics-bid/512372/71 "2009-10-05T12:18:44Z")
> [@flickster](#): > > At best, he has returned with a badly tarnished star. Over a _sporting event_? Nonsense. the only people who think this is an enormous deal are the people who already frothed at the mouth with hate for him. The people who would spin any result as a disaster and a sign of either incompetence or evil. For everyone else it’s a minor blip that’ll be forgotten in no time. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-chicagos-failed-olympics-bid/512372/72 "2009-10-05T12:32:10Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > I think the biggest criticism Obama’s likely to get is that his decision to spend days on an Olympic bid shows a very poor set of priorities. His generals are waiting for his decision on Afghanistan while the situation deteriorates, and he tells them he needs a few more weeks to think about it - and then decides to focus his effort on bring the Olympics to Chicago. At the very least the appearance of misplaced priorities is very bad. Piffle. There is precious little that he can do in the Oval Office that he can’t do in Air Force One. So he has a couple of working plane rides and gives a speech that someone else took time to write for him. The impact on his time was minimal at most. Again, the right wingnuts would be crucifying him if he hadn’t gone and the result was the same. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-chicagos-failed-olympics-bid/512372/73 "2009-10-05T12:37:08Z")
I think a lot of US citizens, politicians and commentators need to get over themselves a bit. A lot, I’m not saying all, seem to think that this is all about the US either getting snubbed or a failure of Obama’s power. It’s as if the other countries didn’t have a chance unless the a US wasn’t on the table. There are a lot of reasons to pick a host for the Olympics and no all of them are US-centric. The US has had two summer Olympics in my life time, Atlanta and L.A. which is more than any other country. No country in South America has ever hosted. I’m not saying US/international politics weren’t in play in the choice but to hear a lot of Americans talk you’d swear that it was all just about America getting it or not in isolation of all other bids. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-chicagos-failed-olympics-bid/512372/74 "2009-10-05T12:44:02Z")
I have to say that regardless of anything Obama may or may not have done, Rio seems a more sensible choice. Rio’s star is on the rise politically and economically, and as noted South America is overdue to host. Whereas the US has had SLC, Atlanta and Los Angeles in recent memory. I suspect Chicago is better off out of it anyway. While it was nice that London was picked over Paris for 2012, the upshot is that I get six years (if I’m lucky) of higher taxes to pay for the privilege of having a month of the transport system being jammed up with people going to games I can’t afford to see. Paris would have been welcome to them, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-chicagos-failed-olympics-bid/512372/75 "2009-10-05T13:13:18Z")
I still have not read a single valid argument that this was a personal failure for Obama, that Obama wasted his time going over there, or that this in any way damages his political credibility or wastes political capital. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-chicagos-failed-olympics-bid/512372/76 "2009-10-05T14:50:35Z")
Venues built on the former Meigs Field might have enough permanence to them to keep the airport from ever reopening. So this is a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-chicagos-failed-olympics-bid/512372/77 "2009-10-05T14:55:07Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > couldn’t make a decision about a dog That was a great SNL opening sketch, wasn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-chicagos-failed-olympics-bid/512372/78 "2009-10-05T15:34:13Z")
Two relevant responses: From this week’s Democratic Underground [“Top 10 Conservative Idiots:”](http://journals.democraticunderground.com/top10/374) > [@](#): > > **1. The Hate America First Crowd** > > During the eight long, dreadful years of the Bush administration, liberals were repeatedly accused of hating America. Oppose George W. Bush’s unfunded $1.3 trillion tax cut for the richest Americans? You hate America! Oppose the invasion of Iraq which has cost taxpayers $3 trillion so far? You hate America! Think that John Kerry would have made a better president than George W. Bush? You hate America! Disgusted by Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina? You must really hate America! > > Last week President Obama took 18 hours out of his day to fly to Copenhagen and back in order to give a boost to America’s chances of hosting the 2016 Olympics. As it turned out, Obama’s pitch could not derail the clear favorite Brazil, who eventually took home the prize. But you can’t knock the President for giving it a shot. > > Or can you? The way the right-wing reacted, you’d think Saddam Hussein had just been hanged all over again. Never mind the fact that hosting the Olympics would have created thousands of American jobs, provided a real economic stimulus to the Midwest, and improved America’s international image… > > > [@](#): > > > > “For those of you … who are upset that I sound gleeful, I am. I don’t deny it. I’m happy.” – Rush Limbaugh > > > [@](#): > > > > “ChicagP//n3D!” – Newsmax > > > [@](#): > > > > “Please, please let me break this news to you. It’s so sweet.” – Glenn Beck > > Yes folks, that’s the right-wing reacting to news that an American city will not be hosting the Olympics in 2016. Want more? The Huffington Post reported that: > > > [@](#): > > > > Upon being informed of the news, a gathering of conservatives at the Americans For Prosperity – one of the main organizing groups behind the tea party protests – erupted in applause. They cheered once more after they were told that Chicago had been eliminated during the first round of voting. The moment was captured on video and reported by Hotline On Call. > > Or how about the reaction at the Weekly Standard? According to Think Progress: > > > [@](#): > > > > Soon after news broke that the International Olympic Committee had rejected Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics, which President Obama had personally lobbied for, Weekly Standard blogger John McCormack published a celebratory post on the magazine’s blog, titled “Chicago Loses! Chicago Loses!.” McCormack wrote that “Cheers erupt at WEEKLY STANDARD world headquarters.” > > It’s okay though - shortly after it was published, the Weekly Standard edited McCormack’s post to remove the reference to cheers and tone the headline down a bit. Phew! That was close. For a moment there they almost came across as being a bit, you know… un-American. And a rather surprising one from [_The Nation:_](http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091005/zirin) > [@](#): > > “This is a devastating blow for the people of Chicago.” So said ESPN’s Chicago-born Michael Wilbon. But today’s decision to send the 2016 Summer Olympics to Rio was in fact a victory for the people of Chicago. Pushing back against immense pressure from the Daley political machine, organizations like No Games Chicago went grassroots, corner to corner, and spoke out against the Olympic storm of gentrification, tax hikes, and police misconduct. They are a model of resistance in the Obama era. Certainly one reason the United States got the high hat was the lingering bad taste of George W. Bush. The global community, after eight years of sneering contempt from Washington, DC, isn’t ready to rinse with the Obama mouthwash. > > But it’s the community activists of Chicago who should feel a tremendously gratified. They–along with the millions of Chicagoans who expressed their trepidation in polls–saved their city. They have every right to say with pride, “That’s the Chicago way!” > > As for Barack Obama,he may not be feeling it, but he is the luckiest man alive. Yes, he traveled all the way to Copenhagen and didn’t even get a lousy t-shirt, but he is very fortunate his bid went down like it did. Obama is the first US President to ever appear before the International Olympic Committee and plea for the games. The Games coming to the Windy City would have been an eight-year distraction and political gold for his opponents. Every time an Olympic project came in late and over budget, every time a scandal hit the tabloids, every time a crime was captured on a cell phone camera it would have been “Obama’s Olympic Folly.” > > The person who really has egg on his face is Mayor Richard Daley. He wanted to show everyone he was a bigger man–and mayor–than his Daddy, with an Olympic sized stadia to boot. Now expect all the Daley arm-twisting and all the dirty skullduggery in the lead up to both come to light and come home to roost. (Sour grapes? You be the judge.) ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-chicagos-failed-olympics-bid/512372/79 "2009-10-05T18:11:45Z")
[QUOTE=Democratic Underground] Never mind the fact that hosting the Olympics would have created thousands of American jobs… [/QUOTE] Remarkably silly. The cubic mile of money that would have been necessary will now be spent on a host of other things that will affect employment - many of which will last longer than the 2016 Olympic Games. And I think Mayor Daley can in the aftermath be counted on to go after federal funds for a bunch of projects claimed to do some of the wonderful things the Olympics were supposed to. I think _The Nation’s_ take on this is accurate, except for this part: > [@](#): > > … he [Obama] is very fortunate his bid went down like it did. He would have been much more fortunate if Chicago has finished second (as many expected). Then it would have been an honorable failure, losing to a country and continent that has never hosted a Games. Finishing last was much more of a blow. This [Chicago Tribune article](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-na-obama-olympics4-2009oct04,0,836075.story) says Obama’s decision to go was made late, based on intelligence that proved faulty. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-chicagos-failed-olympics-bid/512372/80 "2009-10-06T02:05:10Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Piffle. There is precious little that he can do in the Oval Office that he can’t do in Air Force One. A telephone call from the White House would be a lot cheaper than the cost of flying a 747 to Copenhagen and back. If the First Lady had not taken a separate plane that would have been cheaper also. There wasn’t anything they could contribute to this venture that the Olympic committee would care about so it was really an expensive publicity event that didn’t pan out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-chicagos-failed-olympics-bid/512372.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-chicagos-failed-olympics-bid/512372.md?page=5)