Obama is box-office poison

mike65

Yep, his pimping of Chicago as host for the 2016 Olympics has failed. The windy city the first to be knocked out of the beauty contest. Listening to sychophantic coverage on RTE radio you'd have sworn it was a formality once Mr and Mrs USA decided to go to the ceremony.

So is this it? Already the rest of the world has fallen out of love with the man who was hyped to the skies as the next big thing?

bobbyjoe

Doubt anyone cares tbh.

metaoblivia

It has more to do with the IOC itself and the contentious relationship it has with the USOC. Politically, Chicago always had the stakes set up against it. The Atlanta games didn't live up to expectation, and earlier in the decade there was the Salt Lake City scandal. There are also issues concerning the amount of funding the USOC gets and a recent network deal. No amount of Oprah or Obama could change that.

It did make him look really bad though.

Overheal

Hadnt heard this at all. But aaanyway.

metaoblivia

What, the bad relationship between the USOC and the IOC? It's been going on for years. The IOC wants a bigger piece of the US network deal and it's not getting what it feels it deserves. The USOC recently announced that it would start its own Olympic network with COMCAST, after the IOC specifically told them not too, and well, the proverbial sh*t hit the fan. There was a meeting in July and the USOC backed off - for the time being - and Rogges said everything was settled, but the IOC doesn't forgive that quickly. There's years of mistrust between these two organizations. Both are corrupt, want to make as much money as possible, and view the other as a threat to that goal.

Add this to the fact that South America has never hosted an Olympics and the IOC was committed to bringing an Olympics to South America. When they graded the cities and chopped it down to four, another city - Doha - actually outscored Rio, but Rio got the 4th position. The IOC was absolutely set on South America (it is also determined to bring them to Africa in 2020), and it was simply naive to think that Chicago would win even with the three O's in tow.

jank

mike65 wrote: »

Yep, his pimping of Chicago as host for the 2016 Olympics has failed. The windy city the first to be knocked out of the beauty contest. Listening to sychophantic coverage on RTE radio you'd have sworn it was a formality once Mr and Mrs USA decided to go to the ceremony.

So is this it? Already the rest of the world has fallen out of love with the man who was hyped to the skies as the next big thing?

Come of it Mike, I expect to hear this bull$hit from the likes of Ann Coulter not you. I doubt many would care, anyway Rio was always the favourite to get it.

Moving on....

Manic Moran

I don't often agree with Jank, but in this case, I appear to.

Obama's presence and support is a non-issue to the IOC. Every president or prime minister is going to support their nation's bid for the Olympics, the US's isn't any different. There's no reason it should be a factor in the IEC decision-making.

NTM

Nodin

If he didn't go and it failed, he would have been sniped at for 'not doing enough'. Sniped at from much the same areas too, it must be said.

RonMexico

Foxnews: "It may have only been the Olympics but President Obama's high-profile failure to win the games for Chicago has raised serious questions about his perceived international star power.Now critics are asking: If Obama can't sway ...Olympic officials, how can he wring concessions from Iran on its nuclear program, secure crucial support from allies to overhaul two wars or rebuild the U.S. image in the Middle East?"

WTF? This is the most laughable, desperate, mind-numbingly pathetic attempt to find fault with Obama ever.

eamo127

Really enjoying seeing Obama really flubbing it up on all issues he tackles. Always good to see socialists failing.

jank

Tokyo didnt get the games either, I suppose it was because they are socialists:cool:!

JohnMc1

RonMexico wrote: »

Foxnews: "It may have only been the Olympics but President Obama's high-profile failure to win the games for Chicago has raised serious questions about his perceived international star power.Now critics are asking: If Obama can't sway ...Olympic officials, how can he wring concessions from Iran on its nuclear program, secure crucial support from allies to overhaul two wars or rebuild the U.S. image in the Middle East?"

WTF? This is the most laughable, desperate, mind-numbingly pathetic attempt to find fault with Obama ever.

You don't think CBS, the NBCs, CNN, ABC wouldn't have said that if Bush had tried to get the Olympics for Texas and failed?

I think that was more of an attempt to take the piss out of the people who think Obama is the second coming of Christ more than actually knocking Obama.

Manic Moran

There is one argument, granted, that he failed a basic premise of senior political leadership by showing up: Presidents don't go anywhere until they know the answer in advance. Even Yes, Prime Minister had this figured out. All the details are worked out by humble functionaries, the President just shows up for the signing ceremony and the after-ceremony party.

However, it is to be noticed that he was not alone in this: The other nations sent high political representation as well.

NTM

orourkeda

Manic Moran wrote: »

There is one argument, granted, that he failed a basic premise of senior political leadership by showing up: Presidents don't go anywhere until they know the answer in advance. Even Yes, Prime Minister had this figured out. All the details are worked out by humble functionaries, the President just shows up for the signing ceremony and the after-ceremony party.

However, it is to be noticed that he was not alone in this: The other nations sent high political representation as well.

NTM

Surely, the only reason he turned up only was because the result hung in the balance. As you mention high level Japanese politicians trun up and had little or no effect.

I'm not a particular fan of this president I must mention.

jank

JohnMc1 wrote: »

You don't think CBS, the NBCs, CNN, ABC wouldn't have said that if Bush had tried to get the Olympics for Texas and failed?

I think that was more of an attempt to take the piss out of the people who think Obama is the second coming of Christ more than actually knocking Obama.

If only this were true, if only!