So with everything going on why is the Obama in Copenhagen trying to get Chicago the olympics? Has he nothing better to do? Do other sitting presidents do this? Is this really a president's job?

[Ash]

Doesn't have to be but it does score brownie points...
Rio will provide some stiff competition too...

[Parallax]

So with everything going on why is the Obama in Copenhagen trying to get Chicago the olympics? Has he nothing better to do? Do other sitting presidents do this? Is this really a president's job?

Everything he has done remotely related to his job is rapidly turning to crap, so maybe he just needed a diversion.

[Mike L]

So with everything going on why is the Obama in Copenhagen trying to get Chicago the olympics? Has he nothing better to do? Do other sitting presidents do this? Is this really a president's job?

Chicago (or any city) has precisely zero chance of getting the Olympics unless the national government demonstrates its support for the bid. No better way then for the President to turn up and lobby. Yes, other heads of state do that too.

[jmdeegan]

i think i actually saw someone from the IOC say that obama there or not wouldn't much matter.

rio would be a nice location.

[larryinlc]

I say go for it. If he succeeds, the economic impact in the greater Chicago area would be tremendous. Yes, it has been done before.

Although IOC president Jacques Rogge has taken great pains to say heads of state aren't expected to attend, their presence has been instrumental in recent votes. Tony Blair is widely credited for tipping the 2012 vote in London's favor, spending two days doing one-on-one meetings with IOC members in his hotel suite.

Vladimir Putin did much the same thing two years later, when Sochi won the 2014 Olympics

[ve2vfd]

What difference does it make?

If the president wasn't at the IOC meeting to help his country's bid then the Obama haters would be bitching he's not doing all he can to support the American candidacy...

Pat

[PeteyJ]

Man, the last thing Chicago needs are the Olympics. Chicago is already a traffic nightmare. The police are already underfunded and overworked. Mayor Daly complains about all the crime in the city, and the police not doing their jobs, all while cutting police funding. He refuses to allow for the hiring of new officers while the old timers are all retiring. The Olympics would only contribute these problems.

[Ash]

But if Chicago got the bid, then more funds would be injected in some of those deficient areas, and the city would come out better off.

Same thing happened in Sydney 2000 - traffic had been nightmarish for as long as I can remember there, but with the won bid came an efficient train and bus system for the Olympic village and the surrounding area, a few freeways, and a lot of money for the building industry.

[PeteyJ]

But if Chicago got the bid, then more funds would be injected in some of those deficient areas, and the city would come out better off.

Same thing happened in Sydney 2000 - traffic had been nightmarish for as long as I can remember there, but with the won bid came an efficient train and bus system for the Olympic village and the surrounding area, a few freeways, and a lot of money for the building industry.

Would the city really come out better off? Mayor Daly has a lot of favors he has to pay off. I feel like any benefit that the city could receive would instead be given off as political favors, in true Daly family fashion.

[Driver3]

So he's probably not working while traveling. Yea, right.
What a bs post this is.

[Mike L]

But if Chicago got the bid, then more funds would be injected in some of those deficient areas, and the city would come out better off.

Same thing happened in Sydney 2000 - traffic had been nightmarish for as long as I can remember there, but with the won bid came an efficient train and bus system for the Olympic village and the surrounding area, a few freeways, and a lot of money for the building industry.

Haven't been to Sydney for a while Ash? Efficient isn't a word I've heard anyone use to describe the public transport system in Sydney since at least September 2000.

Best thing to do if your city gets the Olympics is to go on a long holiday somewhere else.

But if Chicago got the bid, then more funds would be injected in some of those deficient areas, and the city would come out better off.

Same thing happened in Sydney 2000 - traffic had been nightmarish for as long as I can remember there, but with the won bid came an efficient train and bus system for the Olympic village and the surrounding area, a few freeways, and a lot of money for the building industry.

Does it really provide an economic benefit though? Tampa tried for the 2012 olympics. They spent a few hundred thousand to apply. When all was said and done and we didn't get it they released some numbers and it turns out it really would have cost more than it would have brought in revenue wise.

[jmdeegan]

i may be inspired to research this later, but honestly i dont remember the sitting POTUS working the IOC for Atlanta's shot at things when they landed the 96 games, and I don't know if the POTUS got involved for the LA bid either. Or Salt Lake City, either.

I honestly believe he's more involved in the bid because its chicago. i know he discussed it before the november elections, so he was a fan of/in the loop by that time. If it were a different US city, like san fran or ny (previous candidates), i'd say there was no better than a 50/50 shot that anyone high up would have gone. its only a hunch....


with all the issues he's had lately, he probably welcomes the distraction tho it easily opens him up to new criticism. personally, i dont think a US city possibly hosting the Olympics is so important any POTUS needs to be involved. but i do understand the landscape is more and more political than it was even 10-15 years ago.

i may be inspired to research this later, but honestly i dont remember the sitting POTUS working the IOC for Atlanta's shot at things when they landed the 96 games, and I don't know if the POTUS got involved for the LA bid either. Or Salt Lake City, either.

I honestly believe he's more involved in the bid because its chicago. i know he discussed it before the november elections, so he was a fan of/in the loop by that time. If it were a different US city, like san fran or ny (previous candidates), i'd say there was no better than a 50/50 shot that anyone high up would have gone. its only a hunch....


with all the issues he's had lately, he probably welcomes the distraction tho it easily opens him up to new criticism. personally, i dont think a US city possibly hosting the Olympics is so important any POTUS needs to be involved. but i do understand the landscape is more and more political than it was even 10-15 years ago.

Remember it's all about the Obama.

Side note. He was at the UN talking about how bad we were. He goes around apologizing. So why isn't he talking about the help America has sent to the earthquake/sunami victims?