Friday, October 02, 2009

Rio Wins Olympics: Obama and Oprah weren't enough

Well now that this crap is out of the way Obama can concentrate on the way forward in Afghanistan.

Chicago was knocked out in the first round — in one of the most shocking defeats ever in International Olympic Committee voting. Even Tokyo, which had trailed throughout the race, did better — eliminated after Chicago in the second round.

I think the tepid support, where only 47% of the people living in Chicago, even wanted the thing in the first place is what sunk the whole thing. There was even a group called Chicagoans for Rio that wanted to send the Olympics there. The bad part is that Obama's flyby might have actually hurt the process.

Chicago had long been seen as a front-runner and got the highest possible level of support — from President Barack Obama himself. But he only spent a few hours in the Danish capital where the vote was held and left before the result was announced. Former IOC member Kai Holm said that the brevity of his appearance may have counted against him.

The short stopover was "too business-like," Holm said. "It can be that some IOC members see it as a lack of respect."

I think it might be Glenn Becks fault. The White House seems to agree with me.

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