Imagine how much pressure those Olympic board members were under... Madrid, Tokyo, the US, Rio, etc. South America saying "Stop ignoring us!" The US, and traditional Spain, and Japan? Rio was the OBVIOUS CHOICE. Yet Drudge tries to call it an Obama Failure? I expect he knew Obama's quick, token appearance was mostly for appearances, for common sense would NOT have the IOC choose the US, after the Atlanta cluster-fuck with the bombing and unabashed US promotion?
Who do we think we ARE?
Do you suppose the Chicago Sun Times, still smarting, might be closer to the truth than Drudge by suggesting that our arrogance is a little tiresome to world leaders, like the Olympic Committee? Like just how impressed would they be that Oprah Winfrey (a television personality known only in the US) might have clout with them?
Just how arrogant ARE we to expect that people of this planet would stop what they're doing to ask us what WE think? Yes, friend, we Americans are soooo into ourselves and frankly the residents of planet Earth are pretty SICK of us. Read below to get some idea why!!
Chicago torpedoed by anti-U.S. sentiment?
Some Chicago officials say 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 Janero. "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 This is the leaders still living with outdated impressions of Americans."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. ... But I don't know if that's it."
Presidential press secretary Robert Gibbs rejected the notion that the vote was influenced by the United States' standing: "No, I think you saw both at the U.N. General Assembly, you saw at the G20 last week ... I think virtually every measure of our standing in the world is different than it was just this time last year. So I don't read too much of that into this."
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