Why the "Chosen One" wasn't chosen!

In the world of Obama, where personality trumps reality, last Friday's decision by the IOC to award the 2016 Olympics to Brazil was a bitter pill to swallow.

Initially the President was not going to attend the IOC convention in Coppenhagen, feeling secure in the knowledge that Michelle Obama, the First Lady of the United States and the Queen of Television herself,  Ophrah Winfrey could carry the day for old time friend Richard Daley, the perennial Mayor of Chicago.

As the IOC's final decision drew close, the President's special advisor and long time Chicago buddy, Valerie Jarrett, reminded Obama abut how Prime Minister Tony Blair personally appeared before the IOC in 2005 and caried the day for London when, at the time, it appeared that France was the favorite of the IOC members.  Surely, if the "Chosen One" himself apppeared before the IOC, the 2016 Olympics Chicago bid would be assured.  [Note:  Valerie Jarrett also highly recommended disgraced  "Green Jobs Czar" Van Jones for his short lived appointment and we all know how well that turned out!]

And so it was decided, the President would personally appear before the IOC in Copenhagen to make the case for Chicago.

As National Public Radio's Juan Williams pointed out last week...

"They thought was this was going to be the bookend to the Obama presidency after he wins a second term. In 2016 he would be able to walk from his home over to the games along the parkland on Michigan Avenue by the lakefront. And this was to be his moment. But what we see is that they expected that magic would strike, especially hoped that the African countries would vote in support of President Obama..."

Unfotunately, instead of magic, Obama was struck with a healthy dose of reality with the IOC's decision to award the 2016 Games to Brazil ast Friday.  In the initial round of voting Chicago received less that 17% of the total IOC votes and was the first city eliminated from the competition.

Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago reacted by stating, "I was shocked, I was disappointed, I couldn't believe it...It's not about Rich Daley. It's never about Rich Daley. You try to make it everything about Rich Daley. This is about America."

And then came the spin...

Some Chicago officials said anti-American resentment likely played a role in Chicago's Olympic bid dying in the first round Friday.  President Obama could not undo in one year the resentment against America that President Bush and others built up for years, they said.

"There must be" resentment against America, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said, near the stage where he had hoped to give a victory speech in Daley Center Plaza. "The way we refused to sign the Kyoto Treaty, we misled the world into Iraq. The world had a very bad taste in its mouth about us. But there was such a turnaround after last November. The world now feels better about America and about Americans. That's why I thought the president's going was the deal-maker."

State Rep. Susana Mendoza (D-Chicago) said she saw firsthand the resentment against America five years ago when she was in Rio de Janeiro. "I feel in my gut that this vote today was political and mean-spirited," she said.  "I travel a lot. ... I thought we had really turned a corner with the election of President Obama. People are so much more welcoming of Americans now. But this isn't the people of those countries. This is the leaders still living with outdated impressions of Americans."

U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) said she was approached by a consul general at the plaza as they waited for word Friday. "He said ... he was hearing that there wasn't enough time for Barack Obama to dispel the old image. ... "

Democrat Senator Rowland Burris of Illinois, the Senator who was appointed to fill President Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat, blames George Bush for Chicago not getting the Olympics in 2016. Burris stated in an interview, shortly after the announcement, that "...the image of the U. S. has been so tarnished in the last 8 years that, even Barack Obama making an unprecedented pitch for the games could not overcome the hatred the world has for us as a result of George Bush."

President Bush lost Chicago its bid for the 2016 Games?

Of course all of the above is nothing more than liberal garbage designed to lessen any adverse imact the IOC's decision could have on the "World of Obama" and his leftist agenda back here in the States.

Now back to reality.  The real reason Chicago, along with Tokyo and Madrid failed in their bids for the 2016 Games was a simple one. 

"Rio ran away with it," said Ed Hula, who runs the venerable Olympics Web site aroundtherings.com, "... the other three cities easily could have hosted the Games, but officials from those cities never answered why they should. Rio did that," he said.

Peter J. Mahon