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On Friday the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted to award the 2016 Summer Games to Rio de Janeiro. As you now know, not only was Chicago not chosen to host the 2016 games, but it was the first city knocked out in voting for the four cities still in the running.
In addition to the U.S. and Rio the other two were Tokyo (which came in 3rd) and Madrid (2nd).
I was quoted in several places on Friday. David Jackson quoted me in USA Today:
"Republicans, meanwhile, could barely contain their glee after Chicago became the first contestant eliminated in the four-city race. We're number four! We're number four!" joked Republican strategist Rich Galen."
Kristi Keck quoted me in her CNN.com piece as saying this would not be fatal but will be a running joke in the halls of Congress for the next few weeks or months. As a serious matter for the Obama Administration, I also said:
"Given the last two months starting with the August recess and all of the issues that surrounded that, I think that the White House staff, the senior staff, needs to get together somewhere and figure out how they are going to fix this, because they are in a deep slump."
Which is pretty good advice especially since the Olympic story completely buried the news that unemployment ticked up to 9.8 percent and is likely on its way to the magic 10 percent mark.
I also said that this was not an embarrassment for Chicago - only one city was going to get the 2016 Olympics. It was not an embarrassment for the United States - Brazil is still a pretty good ally. According to the Congressional Research Service:
President Obama has made strengthening U.S.-Brazilian relations a major part of his policy toward Latin America, meeting with President [Luis Inácio] Lula a number of times since his inauguration.
It is a personal embarrassment for Barack Obama because he truly believed, or was told, or both, that if he showed up personally to make the final pitch, the IOC would not be able to deny Chicago the Games.
Because he is B*A*R*A*C*K O*B*A*M*A the President of All the World!
I told someone else that by the end of the weekend this would all be George W's fault. I was right about that, too.
That political genius and historian extraordinaire, Jesse Jackson, blamed it on the fact that Bush refused to sign the Kyoto Treaty. Jesse must have been otherwise engaged (if you know what I mean, and I think you do) the day (July 25, 1997) that the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to refuse to accept the Kyoto accords on which was during the administration of BILL CLINTON.
If we're going to go with this "It's the previous President's fault," excuse for the failure of Michelle, Oprah, and Barack in Copenhagen, then isn't it fair to suggest that the decision - four years ago - to bounce New York City out of the competition for the award of the 2012 games was the fault of BILL CLINTON?
Actually, according to Phillip Hersh writing in the LA Times, it was the IOC's dislike of the way United States Olympic Committee (USOC) operates which probably doomed the Chicago bid.
Hersh wrote:
IOC member Denis Oswald of Switzerland cited the USOC instability as a problem and said it was his impression "this was a defeat for the USOC, not for Chicago."
But, even at that, how could the White House have thought Obama could turn that around AND the Kyoto Treaty thing?
The Myth of Obama met the Reality of Obama.
Obama lost.
On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: Links to the Congressional Research Service report on Brazil, and the LA Times piece on what really happened. Also a Mullfoto which made me giggle and a Catchy Caption of the Day which made me smile happily.
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