The GOP was Right to Cheer Obama's Olympic Defeat
The GOP cheered wildly at President Obama's Olympic bid folly. In a rarity, they actually got some of the reasons they cheered for his defeat right. The games would have been a nightmare for Chicago. There was the excessive cost, massive hikes in taxes, a city rife with corruption and cronyism, no evidence the games would do much to generate jobs and business growth in the most impoverished areas of the city, and the blatant impropriety of a president plugging his own home city.
The GOP also got it right in knocking Obama for wasting time chasing Olympic windmills when his time should be spent on health care reform, fixing the economy, confronting the Iran nuclear threat, and doubling his efforts to wind down two crippling wars. The GOP offers no real solutions on any of these problems, and they happily used Obama's Olympic flop to bludgeon him and his administration for failure. But that doesn't let Obama off the hook for self-diverting his time and attention from these crucial issues.
That's not the only reason to give the GOP a one time prop for getting it right about Obama and his Olympic pipe dream. In the last year more than forty young blacks have been stabbed, shot, and bludgeoned to death within miles, and some within blocks, of Obama's home. The violence stirred a mild national outcry when a cell phone video showed 16-year-old honors student Derrion Albert being bludgeoned to death on a Chicago street. Before the Albert killing, black community leaders and activists had begged, pleaded with and implored Obama to speak out on the violence. Apart from a few oblique platitudes and moral finger wagging at a black church and later at an NAACP convention about the perils of the street, the silence from the White House has been deafening on the violence.
The murders literally in Obama's own backyard are more than just a shame and an embarrassment to him. They represent a missed teaching moment for Obama. They were a tailor made opportunity to connect the dots and show just how failing public schools, Great Depression unemployment highs among young black males, soaring incarceration rates, the paucity of recreation facilities, breakdown in family support services, and the unwillingness of public agencies and private businesses to invest in job skills, training, and education programs for youth is the direct line to the shocking murder of innocents such as Albert.
The paid lobbyists, high profile PR firms, well-heeled corporate donors, high powered political connections, and major civic and industry groups happily designated Obama as their point man on the Olympics. They had the political muscle and money to send him scurrying on a wild goose chase thousands of miles away to plug the Olympic Games.
Meanwhile, the Derrion Alberts who are at mortal risk from street violence only a few blocks from the president's home are forced to play a much deadlier game: a game called survival. The GOP may have cheered Obama's Olympic smack down for the wrong reason, but the cheer was well-deserved.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His forthcoming book, How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge (Middle Passage Press) will be released in January, 2010.
Joe Scarborough: Thank You, Mr. President
Count me as one conservative who is disappointed that President Obama's hometown will not be hosting the 2016 Olympic Games.
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Bottom line is that the USA is in international lock down mode with our phony war on terror that the Olympics committee was right to not pick Chicago. When Obama was asked what he was going to do about lifting travel restrictions to the USA for the Olympics he could only sputter inanities and vague assurances of no consequence. Both the Democrats and the Republicans are to blame for that real reason the Olympics are not coming to Chi town.
Hey Earl,
Ignoring the shameless hypocrisy of the flag-waving, Obama-is-a-Socialist GOP, let's talk about crime and depravity in Rio, which makes Chicago look like Mayberry:
Rio has high crime rates, especially homicide, in poor areas dominated by drug lords, primarily in the North Zone. As of 2007, the homicide rate of the greater metropolitan area stood at nearly 30 victims per week, with the majority of victims falling to mugging, stray bullets or narcoterrorism. In 2006, 2,273 people were murdered in the city giving it a murder rate of 37.7 cases for every 100,000 people.
According to federal government research, the city itself ranks 206th (out of a total of 5,565) in the list of the most violent cities and municipalities in Brazil and first in total number of firearm-related deaths. Between 1978 and 2000, 49,900 people were killed in Rio. The Urban Warfare involves drug-traffic battle with police fighting against outlaws, or even corrupt policemen on their side.
On the bright side, you can get a great room rate in the slums.
There are a number of opinions about President Obama's effort to secure the Olympics for the city of Chicago, however, there is one disturbing aspect that we're missing. The fact that a President should be able to do address more than one issue at a time and somehow that by focusing on one issue there is an absence of consideration or work on the other pressing issues. Some say that the Olympics would
enhance the job market although temporarily and that it would be good for America as a whole.
What I viewed by the Republicans is a glee that somehow this was a personal failure for the President and whoopee!!. Which is a viewpoint through a very narrow lens and another smokescreen for opposition to anything that is supported or proposed by this President. As President Carter asserted there is a rather nasty racial slant to all these various forms of opposition by this party and although Mr. Hutchinson's intent may not be a part of that aspect--just a plug on their behalf is sullied by it.
I also think the right wing would be less joyful if the losing city had been Omaha, Nebraska or some such city. Chicago is in a blue state and its residents are too pigmented.
I don't agree.
What are the other "Black" leaders in Chicago doing to stop this. I put Black in quotes cause it seems to me that the "whites" leaders in Chicago are exempt from fixing this problem too (oh, and Oprah).
At least that's what I read in your post.
I think you're right.
Ok, the GOP have their heads up another piece of their anatomy on this for a couple of reasons:
1) Had Obama NOT gone to Copenhagen they would have said something negative about it.
2) They weren't cheering because it is good in the end for Chicago not to get the Olympics, they were cheering becasue they saw it as a defeat for Obama. Get real.
Eric, you're absolutely right. Had he not gone, the GOP would have gone after him for not supporting Chicago's bid. The fact that this trip is even an issue amazes me. It was a one day trip. (During which he also met with General McCrystal regarding Afganistan.) Does anybody seriously believe that this one day diverted his attention from the serious issues he's facing. What do you think he did while on Air Force One, play Scrabble and read People magazine?
I had thought that the notion of President Obama as a messiah was merely a talking point for the right. But reading some of these opinions and comments, it seems that some people do see him that way and expect him to solve everything at once. If that's the case, the most shocking part of the trip is that he didn't just walk across the Atlantic and save the fuel costs.
I'm glad Chicago didn't get the Olympics... but I live in Chicago. I'm allowed to not want it.
Conservatives, on the other hand, are just looking for another reason to hate one of America's great cities.
So they'll cheer this, just like they cheered when New York was hit by terrorist attacks, and New Orleans was hit by a hurricane and ignored for two weeks, and they'll continue to cheer every bad thing that happens to places they don't like in America... and if they can play a hand in making it worse, they'll gladly do so.
But thankfully, Real America now understands how deeply conservatives hate America, and are rejecting them en masse. The GOP squandered all their credibility, betting their party on being a "permanent one party majority"... and they lost. What we are witnessing now is the death of a political party... a bunch of dead-enders in their last, desperate throes.
See K.J. Dwyer's Profile
I'd like to echo what you've written and add a further criticism of the Chicago bid.
After the behavior of the United States (especially in the last eight years since 9/11), the last country on the face of the earth who deserves to host the Olympics -- an event celebrating sovereign nations' individual and collective excellence -- is the United States.
Moscow's Olympics suffered mightily when they took the decision to invade Afghanistan in 1979. 62 countries, led by the United States, boycotted the 1980 Games there, while a handful of others did not participate in the opening ceremonies. The United States has yet to experience anything in the way of international sanctions over its illegal, unjustified invasion of Iraq; not to mention its continued use of torture, which alone should automatically disqualify the United States from hosting any such international event.
Chicago's campaign for the Olympics was unseemly. Given our deserved disgrace in world opinion right now, we would do well to focus on cleaning up the mess we've made rather than trying to capitalize on international events celebrating values we have so notoriously degraded.
Obama's participation in the Chigaco campaign was a remarkably insensitive, callow and craven act of rehabilitating the image of the United States without first acknowledging and addressing our grievous international misconduct.
Many Americans were shocked that Chicago was disqualified on the first ballot. Having lived abroad for the last five years, believe me when I tell you, they were the only ones.
Excellent post! I am in complete agreement.
So the US is too immoral to be allowed to have the Olympics? How much does Obama need to apologize before you consider us to be good enough to host the olympics? (In case you missed it, that paragon of virtue China just hosted, so don't think that getting the olympic bid is some kind of reward for good behavior.)
And I have to say that I am disgusted by your reflexive anti-american sentiment
"After the behavior of the United States (especially in the last eight years since 9/11), the last country on the face of the earth who deserves to host the Olympics -- an event celebrating sovereign nations' individual and collective excellence -- is the United States."
Really? The LAST? On the entire Earth?? (I hope you that are just being hyperbolic and aren't really that thick-headed)
Even if you really feel that the US didn't deserve it, didn't you want to help the US economy?
See K.J. Dwyer's Profile
The United States has displaced 5.4 million Iraqis, caused directly or indirectly the deaths of another million and engaged in torture for which our government continues to drag its feet in stopping and prosecuting those who propagated it.
Pointing to other countries and saying "they're just as bad" is a child's argument and does not absolve the United States of its responsibility, nor does it magically make it an appropriate venue because there are other bad actors in the world.
When you add to the mix that the United States continues to wage its illegal war all the while depicting itself as "Freedom Fighters" "Defenders of Democracy" not to mention "The Greatest Country in the History of Civilization", I defy you to then point to another country who so egregiously continues to defy civilized norms and AT THE SAME TIME lobbies for an international event like the Olympics.
If you can't see the gall in the United States lobbying for the Olympics so close on the heels of its Iraqi misadventure, even in the midst of continuing that misadventure, I'm afraid it is you who are thick-headed, not I.
As far as helping the U.S. economy, after plunging the world economy into recession, I think you're on even thinner ice in "awarding" the Olympics to the very interests who have been so reckless not only militarily but economically as well.
Not only that, but another reason the defeat is unsurprising is we were competing against the fact that South America was the only continent to never host the Olympics.
As for trying to slam the President for trying to solicit the Olympics, that seems very silly, and highly obtuse. Obama is from Chicago. Trying to assist in some small way is just doing a civic duty for his home city. And ultimately, he just gave them a speech and some face time- it's not like what happened when Salt Lake City and Mitt Romney bribed their way into hosting the Olympics. But this is typical of conservatives- it's ok when they break the law and engage in shady dealings... but it's somehow wrong for a Democrat to do some undefinable whatever- ooooh Obama gave a speech, how wrong!
For a little flashback to the kind of Culture of Corruption stuff I'm talking about (and which the GOP is just fine with), check this out-
http://crooksandliars.com/logan-murphy/olympic-flashback-2002-salt-lake-game
Please remind me which Antarctic city or African country have hosted the Olympics?
The President must deal with national and international issues. Pretty busy there. Regional issues must have regional representatives. I feel that you are implying that since it's black on black crime that he must address it. Also, I must remind you that he is President of all races, creeds and religions. He allowed himself to be dragged into the Harvard professor arrest and that should be enough to attest that he doesn't belong in either regional or ethnic problems. Hey, I have a pothole in my street, should I call the White House?
Your missing the point. Yes he is president to all races but he is the first black man elected in that position. Being the first one comes with addtional responsibilities and pressures. Obama cld have chosen to help bring a message to black youth by speaking out on this black on black crime just like he chose to go help Daly try and bring the Olympics to Chicago. He chose to help the powerful and the elite while ignoring the poverty and violence a few blocks from his home. You can tell a lot about a person by their actions and from what I have seen Obama is not for us black folks. And before you attack me for this statement I ask you to provide me proof that I am wrong. I dont want any of his words just prove me wrong by stating what he has done for the minorities and the poor.
I didn't realize Obama was elected to be the representative of every black person in America. Someone might want to tell Morgan Freeman that Obama took his job.
I read the article with great interest and and some concern. But at the end of the day I have only one questions for all of those who cheered the Presidents so call defeat. When your car won't start, or your spouse fogot to tell you good morning or good night, when you teenager goes out and stay all night, or when ou just had had bad day or night, will President Obama get the blame and you cheer those things to?
As a staunch Obama supporter, I couldn't agree with you more.
I'll even do you one better: this is poor Black kids doing this. No one says a word. If kids in the Hamptons or Greeenwich, CT were beating each other up and killing them, it would be a worldwide outrage and they'd FIND a way to stop that.
It is reverse genocide in the African-American community: instead of the powers-that-be killing them, let them kill themselves. At the end of the day, that many less of them to deal with.
That is the point; kids in the Hampton and Greenwich, Ct are not killing each other. We as black people have to stop this. When Dr. King died; we stopped being a people. We stopped striving as a people and stopped caring about one another. We stopped correcting other people's children and informing parents of their children's misdeeds. We stopped getting involved in our neighbors lives and showing concern. We abandon our proverb, "it takes a village." You see when we told well intended people to mind their own business; we shut down that loving village. Now we have communities that have no connection to its people. Unsafe communties that kills the very children caring neighbors use to protected. We have to correct this, others may help, but it is our problem. We each have a role to play in the re-establishment of our village.
I tend to agree with you, sir.
Screw the GOP on every level, they deserve credit for nothing.
However, I do feel the President's bid in Copenhagen was just another corporatist move among many.
When it comes to crucial issues that will determine whether this country rebuilds or disintegrates completely, he is absent - whether it be physically or within his empty triangulated rhetoric.
Now let's be fair & give credit where credit is due. They deserve credit for trashing the economy and doing their best (worst) to prevent anyone from taking steps to fix it, or anything else for that matter. Now they can take credit for cheering as the country fails on the international stage. They actually call this "patriotism". Right . . . .
Oh, there's lots of those kinds of credits.
=]
I just re-read your editorial Mr. Hutchinson, and it occured to me that this is not really about the Olympics is it? For the conservatives, this was just a chance to eye-poke the President because they hate him. For you it was a chance to eye-poke him because he has not been engaged in his hometown and/or black community as you would like. Is that a fair assessment?
I do understand some of your points about his Cosby-esque deliveries (which can be a bit high handed and condescending). Still there is no Moses of Black America. The days of waiting for 1person to lead us all to our individual and collective destinies is a thing of the past. With greatest respect, you our revered older black generation, have to stop projecting the likeness of Dr. Martin Luther King template on to each new black elected official. He is not Dr. King, he has not advertised himself as much, nor could he realistically follow in his footsteps as an elected official. It was in part due to the fact that Dr. King was not an elected official that he could do some of the things he did.
We are fighting the battle on a different front now. The old tactics will not prevail here. It isn't up to Obama to go into each community and root out crime, poverty, violence - that's up to us. It's always been up to us.
Excellent analysis. Fanned.
ditto...and fanned
well put....fanned
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