And to think, just a few months ago, it was unpatriotic to go without a flag pin. Now, however, actively rooting for your country to lose an Olympic bid is PATRIOTISM DEFINED! At any rate, the commentary is pretty predictable, but two pieces stood out as excessively stupid. First, Rick Moran:
He placed the prestige of his presidency directly on the line and failed. That’s the bottom line. He gambled with the one thing no president should ever gamble with unless the stakes are much higher than his hometown getting the Olympic games.
But wait, he’s just getting warmed up. Over at his own joint he really gets worried, but it is so silly it is not worth even quoting (he’s essentially declaring this a failed Presidency and a Republican comeback is in the works).
Second, the Politico’s Ben Smith:
There’s a reason the president is rarely dispatched to a summit whose outcome is uncertain.
And Chicago’s elimination in the first round of voting has to raise questions about whether the White House was getting accurate information about how competitive this was from Chicago’s Olympics organizers.
The White House staked, and lost, some prestige on that one.
First, I would like to point out to both of these folks that the leaders of every nation attended. Did they all lose prestige, too? Is the “diminishment” of Spain’s head of state also good news for Republicans? And where did I find this little morsel of information?
Why, a little website called the POLITICO.
Second, if Chicago had won the bid, what prestige would the Presidency gain? New constitutional powers? Would he be addressed as “President and successful Olympics lobbyist Barack Obama” from here on out? Would this prestige pass on to future Presidents? Or just this White House?
Finally, what prestige did he lose? Did they take away the football? Will they no longer call him President? Will he have to give up Air Force One? Was he kicked out of the White House? Will members of his secret service detail think to themselves “Yesterday, I would have taken a bullet for him. Now, with the stench of defeat all over him, I’m not so sure.” What foreign leader who would have answered a call from the White House yesterday will today refuse because Chicago did not get the Olympics? Same for members of congress? Or fundraisers? If the White House said they would like for Ben Smith to conduct an interview, would Ben say “No thank you, your diminished status as President leaves me no choice but to decline.”
This is the kind of mind-numbingly stupid wankery that we get when people have nothing to say but feel the need to say something anyway. The President went, like every other head of state, to try to get the Olympics for his country. It was awarded to Rio. Nothing else happened, and anyone who states otherwise is simply sniffing glue. And no matter what happened, the Republicans would be claiming that it is bad for Obama.
Also, this is excellent news for John McCain.