Obama Chicago Olympics Defense: President Mocks Critics Of His Push For 2016 Olympics

NEW YORK — President Barack Obama is having some fun at the expense of those who criticized him for trying to help his Chicago hometown land the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

Addressing donors at a Democratic Party fundraiser Tuesday night in New York City, Obama said he believes in a strong opposition but doesn't like it when some folks root for him to fail on health care or ... on getting the Olympics.

In a mocking tone Obama said: "Who's against the Olympics? What's up with that?"

Some Republicans criticized Obama for flying to Denmark earlier this month to boost Chicago's Olympics bid. Critics said he should have stayed home to deal with health care, unemployment and Afghanistan, among other issues.

Brazil won the right to host the Games.

Comments

[47th]

A lot of people who pay property taxes in Chicago, and voted for Obama, were thrilled when Chicago lost the bid. I'm one of them.

[savethecountry]

Life, death, national pride, everything's political nowadays for the party whose sole purpose is to gain and maintain power. The Repubs don't stand for regular people, they don't stand for equal rights and, perhaps most incredibly, they don't stand for national pride. I understand that some have politicized the Chicago angle here with the Olympics, but the last time I checked Chicago is the third largest city in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Remember the U.S.A.?, you idiots at Americans for Prosperity (and others of your ilk), who cheered when the news of the failed Olympic bid was shared with them. That's incredible from the flag-waving crowd. The United States bid for the Olympics failed, and Americans lustily cheered its failure.

Of course, these are many of the same folks who would rather allow 45,000 people to die every year because they don't have health care than to give up the money the health insurance companies and big pharma will contribute to their candidates in 2010 and beyond. For those who make EVERYTHING political, the myopia here is amazing: some of those dead people might actually have voted FOR them.

They won't now.

[cutesky]

I don't know about you, but I call those people TRAITORS...TRAITORS who certaily don't PUT COUNTRY FIRST !!

[azbird]

Cutesky, not all people who were against Chicago were against having Olympics in US. We just wanted it anywhere but Chicago. Many many more worthy cities in US that dont have the taint of crime and the nepotism of BHO`s " hometown". By the way this was not the comlete article.

[bobtry]

Chicago Mayor Daley reminded Obama that he owes the Chicago Democratic Machine big time. Spending the day touting Chicago for the Olympics. Small down payment.

[TomTheAlmostUgly]

"Chicago Mayor Daley reminded Obama that he owes the Chicago Democratic Machine big time. Spending the day touting Chicago for the Olympics. Small down payment."

Here we go again. "Obama wouldn't have accomplished X except for white people carrying his water for him, but Obama is taking credit for their accomplishments." I suppose William Ayers's great-great-grandfather wrote Frederick Douglass's autobiography too?

[bobtry]

No, but Bill Ayers daddy is on the board of directors at University of Chicago. Do you think that might have helped Michelle land her job there.? No health care experience. $300,000 a year job.

[mg moore]

"Whats up with that"?

translation

"It was Bush's fault"

[amistad]

"What's up with that?"

translation:

Why do cr@zy h@ters h@te America so much?

"It was Bush's fault'

translation:

I am a tr011 that wants to blame everything on this President because bush did nothing wrong and is a saint.

[TomTheAlmostUgly]

(*said snarkily*): "It was Bush's fault."

Actually, it is. Whatever bad thing we're talking about, it WAS Bush's fault.

Oh, you say not? Then name ONE accomplishment of the Bush years. And BTW, be prepared to be laughed at if you say "Bush kept us safe."

[Eris23Skidoo]

The more vacations he took, the safer we got!

[mg moore]

He's big on talk... short on Do....

[amistad]

Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act
Signed: Monday, June 22, 2009

Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009
Signed: Friday, May 22, 2009

Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act
Signed: Friday, May 22, 2009

Helping Families Save Their Homes Act
Signed: Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act
Signed: Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act
Signed: Wednesday, April 21, 2009

Omnibus Public Lands Management Act
Signed: Monday, March 30, 2009

Small Business Act Temporary Extension
Signed: Friday, March 20, 2009

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
Signed: Tuesday, February 17, 2009

DTV Delay Act
Signed: Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act
Signed: Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
Signed: Thursday, January 29, 2009

Obama has been pretty busy.

[Arrech]

Indeed

[Moo Goo Gai Pan]

To say that we pray for the absolute and utter failure of the Obama administration is to put it way too mildly, but what else can I say?

[ChicagoSuz]

Oh, I don't know. I suppose you could say, "we are low-grade morons who don't realize that if Obama fails, the country fails."

That would be more accurate, I believe...

[amistad]

Yep!
Fanned!

[EWeiss]

Oh no, they absolutely do realize it. That's the entire point.

[TheAnti-Bush]

Just WHAT is wrong with you people? You WANT your country to fail? Really? ??? What a bunch of sore losers. I obviously was no Bush supporter, but when he was "declared" President, I sure as H##L didn't want him to FAIL!!!
You know, we're ALL in this boat called America together. Barack Obama is OUR leader. If HE fails, we ALL FAIL. AMERICA FAILS. Do you get that? Can you wrap your small minds around that concept???

[Eris23Skidoo]

They can't. They want him to fail so they can try to destroy our economy one more time. That's all they care about: wanton destruction of America and Americans.

[cutesky]

Listen Moo Goo Gai Pan...What more can you say????? You seem to be several items short of a combination plate and very dim on the dim sum .......

[azbird]

How quickly you forget the people who wanted Bush to fail and said it on a daily basis

[Eris23Skidoo]

Wrong! We called him out on his failure. That is a completely different concept. We did not have to wish for W to fail, all we had to do was watch him. The guy is a complete failure. He is the only president to have ever fallen up. It was HIM that choked on a pretzel! It was HIM who spent the month before 9/11 on vacation, not reading the ever-increasing pile of alerts on his desk.

We kept wishing he would succeed at something, but he just kept failing. Don't blame us. We didn't sue his way into office.

[tb92]

You can watch the speech here: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/oct20watch The President comes on stage at about 7:45. It's brilliant, as always. It's fun to see Obama when he's talking just to his supporters. His sense of humor comes out more.

[jennylynn]

Sad that he couldn't even accomplish that within his first 9 months.

[LibDrummer]

"I'd remind you that the stimulus bill alone has over $60 billion in renewable energy investments, that the equal pay act is now law, that federal restrictions on stem cells are over, that Obama delivered on the middle class tax cut he promised, and that the White House has tighter ethics rules and broader transparency than any previous administration. Let's not forget that, like he promised, Obama is withdrawing forces from Iraq, his justice department has initiated a torture probe and the DEA has been ordered to stop raiding medical marijuana dispensaries. He's meeting the Afghanistan question with a critical skepticism and the kind of commitment to clear strategic goals that any anti-war Democrat should appreciate. On September 23rd at the United Nations, he said, "On my first day in office, I prohibited -- without exception or equivocation -- the use of torture by the United States of America." He did that too.
Oh, and by Thanksgiving he will almost surely sign a health care bill, the details of which are still unclear, but the outcome of which will almost certainly be the closest we've ever come to achieving universal health care. Those who are frustrated with him are forgetting that it wasn't a public option Obama had promised to bring to the country, it was universal health care. A promise broken by every other Democratic president will be fulfilled by Obama by the end of his first year in office. Where's the change? It's absolutely everywhere."

[Daniel Guffey]

Don't forget his speech in Cairo; it had really helped to fuel a Muslim movement against extremism. If only he could do the same thing with Christian extremism.

[Iused2loveher]

Well said "LibDrummer"

[tb92]

Jenny, why don't you watch the speech? He spend quite a while explaining exactly what he's been up to for the past nine months. If you have an open mind, you can't help but be impressed. You can find it here: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/oct20watch

[LibDrummer]

"If you have an open mind"

These people complained that he used spicey mustard.

[amistad]

Wow you are ign0rant!

[ngannon]

I just watched the NY speech - I love Obama!

[PintoPony]

As long as he engages in that grade school game of he said/she said, nothing is going to get done during his time in his office. I know he's trying to be just one of the cool guys but we'd rather he stay on task.... Leave the jokes to tubby Baldwin...!!

[tempting]

He's not trying to be cool. He is the POTUS and he can say what he wants. Get over it.

[hang319]

Ditto LibDrummer above.

[tb92]

Did you watch the speech? He spends a good amount of time explaining what he has already achieved. But when he's talking to his supporters, he tends to let his snarky side out. I like it. It reminds me that he's human, and just as prone to being frustrated as any of us.

[zermatt]

Rush Limbaugh said something to the effect that the only thing more embarrassing than losing the Olympics - after being the first US President to have personally lobbied for them - was winning the Nobel Peace Prize, having achieved absolutely nothing (jack and squat in SNL terminology).

[LibDrummer]

Yeah, Rush says a lot of things that don't make sense.

[zermatt]

This actually does make sense.

[Garretto]

Obama's high road needs an off ramp here and there. I think he's brilliant, but the blatant attacks from the right based solely on their desire to see him fail deserve a calling out with more ferocity.
"Who's against the Olympics? What's up with that?" is a brushing off of what we all know is ridiculous, but it's more BS in a towering stack of BS that he and his administration haven't quite kicked in the ass yet. I'd like to see him link the stench of all the obvious for those who still haven't connected the dots in their clenched ideological minds.
Those who could benefit most from it, don't watch Olbermann, Maddow and Stewart, the Prez needs to start doing more of his dirty work for all to see.

[EnjoyTheRide]

The problem with kicking a "towering stack of BS" in the ass is that you end up with BS all over you.

[captain hooker]

"What's up with that?" The sting of this barb is beyond measure....

Come on' HuffPo - hyperbole much?

[huff-fan]

Why haven't they posted the whole speech? It was another great speech. OFA volunteers got over 315,000 calls and commit to call to congress for health care reform and the public option.

[unite4change]

Here is the link to President Obama last night in New York. FYI, you don't have to donate to watch:

https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/dnc08TTDlanding?source=20091021_MS_ttd_report