Look, it’s supposed to be an honor to host the Olympic Games, both for the nation and the particular city.
But when all is said and done, the honor is largely symbolic. Who hosts the Games in a given year has less historical weight than the wars that map the rise and fall of nations. The Games are about the contest between athletes that demonstrates the finest of the human race, and patriotism with regard to the Olympics only has meaning in terms of cheering for your nation’s athletes. Who plays host to the event is of lesser importance.
It’s a disappointment but it is also a relief, in that the Olympics unfortunately cause a surge of political cronyism in the fight over who gets to build the stadiums and hotels.
That Obama went to Copenhagen thinking that all he had to do was grace the IOC with his presence for everyone on the committee to swoon and grant the privilege of hosting the 2016 Games to Chicago, I find to be a shameless display of narcissism. If it were any city other than Chicago, even Los Angeles, up for the opportunity, I would be more disappointed. Barack H. Obama has already embarrassed himself and my country in his foreign policy and conduct with other world leaders. That his acts of public political masturbation have once again failed to bear fruit is in many ways a great relief for all of us.
At least this puts an end to all the silly “Obama=Hitler” comparisons.
I am well aware that the decision to have the 1936 games in Berlin was made well before the Nazi takeover. But that would unravel the joke into a bunch of tedious pedantic drivel.
