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Friday, October 2, 2009

The Denmark debacle

     I can't believe he did it.

     I can't believe President Obama, who understands the new world in which we live, made the gaffe of going to Denmark - to pitch a Chicago Olympics bid that we were bound to lose. No one should have been surprised that Chicago only got 18 votes and was knocked out in the first round.

     I argued against the idea of Obama's going to Denmark with colleagues, who were all convinced it was the right move. After all, other heads of state were going. But any finger on the global pulse made clear that this was not the year for an American bid, irrespective of Obama's international shine.

     Think about it. One: The last time the United States got the nod, in Salt Lake City, there was a scandal involved that compelled the IOCC to change its entire system of choosing winners. Why would the IOCC want to summon up memories of those last, misbegotten U.S. games?

     Two: in a globalized world, a rising power like Brazil - which also has a superstar leader named Lula - was a far more attractive choice than a hyperpower whose gloss was tarnished by the economic crisis. Three: in a globalized world, where South America has never hosted an Olympics (and the United States has done so many times) Rio was the obvious choice. 

      Four: there was no good reason for Obama to be promoting a US venue at a time of economic downturn. Who needs the Olympics anyway?  We've been there, done that. And almost every city that gets the nod winds up losing money.  Obama himself said two weeks ago he had no time to go to Denmark because he had more important things to do - like work on health care or his Afghan strategy. He was right. 

      The president let good judgment be swayed by his Chicago friends, such as advisor Valerie Jarrett, and they put him in the embarrassing position of pitching a product that couldn't be sold. They risked tarnishing his international image as a leader whom much of the world admires, an image that is one of his key strengths. For what? So Chicago could go broke?

      Message to Obama: tell your friends to keep their ideas to themselves in the future. And keep your eye on the ball.  

     

Posted by Trudy Rubin @ 4:01 PM  Permalink | 14 comments
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:15 PM, 10/02/2009
    Honestly, I think Obama did the right thing by going and made a gracious speech in defeat. I'm beginning to pity him. He is looking less and less like the guy in charge every day and more like a Press Secretary. I think the people behind him are a disgrace.
    — tr88
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:27 PM, 10/02/2009
    Well said Trudy. I think there are many of us who share your thoughts. With so many real issues at play, both nationally and here in Chicago itself, Obama's doing this was wrong. Sad to see King Richard Daley still has that much influence over him. Brian (expat Philadelphian)
    — bjps1353
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:42 PM, 10/02/2009
    This guy can't even play small ball well.
    — Joe Funk
  • Comment removed.
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  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 7:56 PM, 10/02/2009
    I would agree. There isn't much point in wasting time reading a lot of the stuff they put out. Trudy is certainly not predictable and worth reading.
    — tr88
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:37 PM, 10/02/2009
    I'm just surprised she didn't blame Reagan or Bush.
    — georgel
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:44 AM, 10/03/2009
    Considering Bush presided over our economic crisis she did kind of bame nit-wit, I mean empty head, I mean the former president.
    — ClarkU
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:44 AM, 10/03/2009
    Considering Bush presided over our economic crisis she did kind of bame nit-wit, I mean empty head, I mean the former president.
    — ClarkU
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 10:18 AM, 10/03/2009
    Another 'fact' to consider: the summer Olympics usually goes to a world-class city (unlike the winter Olympics that needs mountains and snow). Chicago is a great city, but it's not a world-class city, definitely a great American city, with not much image (perhaps) outside the U.S. I agree that it was a dumb move on Obama's part, but must all of his supposedly wrong moves be mortal sins? This is distinctly venial except to people who hate the fact that he breathes and is president. Rio de Janeiro is a world-class city and South America has never had the Olympics--both conclusive factors in the choice. The embarrassment, if there was one, is in the IOC's eliminating Chicago in the first round.
    — John Kennedy
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 7:06 PM, 10/03/2009
    I think that although no one is saying it, the Polanski affair was responsible for the First Round Exit. Virtual all European elites, who are the ones doing the Olympic voting for those countries, are incensed about the arrest of Polanski. They wanted to shove it up the USA's posterior. I am sure Obama had intelligence before this occurred that indicated it was going to be close and that he might be able to push it over the top. Still, WHO CARES? The way the wingnuts who post regularly on this board attacking everything Obama does (which so far is so incredibly better than Bush that any argument to the contrary is imbicilic) and claim everyone else is partisan are so happy with this really indicates how sick this country is. We have to end the Red Team-Blue Team dynamic that Karl Rove infected the country with and restore a certain ownership of everything we do. Just as Bush was my President (not that I was happy about it), Obama is yours. Stop applauding his insignificant failures as an achievement. Start applauding his real successes, such as winding down the debacle in Iraq, working out a real positive relationship with Russia and reestablishing a coalition with which we can work rather than taking on the whole world with our military.
    — Palestra Jon
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:04 AM, 10/04/2009
    Try on last time and see if it takes - this is one of the most ridiculous non-issues ever.
    — what is truth?
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:38 PM, 10/05/2009
    does he have any advisers? say one thing do another. any poli sci intern looking at recent republican tactics could predict the ramifications from this gaffe. he must resist the lure of a new presidency to take on every issue at once. it takes a strong support staff to help him prioritize issues in terms of urgency and overall consequence.
    — natedog


14 comments
About Trudy Rubin
Trudy Rubin’s Worldview column runs on Thursdays and Sundays. In 2009-2011 she has made four lengthy trips to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Over the past seven years, she visited Iraq eleven times, and also wrote from Iran, Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, China, and South Korea. She is the author of Willful Blindness: the Bush Administration and Iraq, a book of her columns from 2002-2004. In 2001 she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary and in 2008 she was awarded the Edward Weintal prize for international reporting. In 2010 she won the Arthur Ross award for international commentary from the Academy of American Diplomacy.
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