Today the International Olympic Committee voted to have the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
This is the first time a South American city has won the honor.
Rio beat Madrid 66-32 in the voting. It came down to the final round of ballot casting.
Being an Olympic host city is always an honor, which is why Chicago was also vying for the chance to bring the Summer Olympics to the United States for the first time in 20 years.
Rio is already celebrating. The booze is probably flowing so heavily that the sands of Copacabana Beach, where the announcement was televised live, are turning into an intoxicating paste that clings to the feet of the party goers.
In Chicago, as well as other cities, tears are more likely to be flowing, unless the booze is being used to drown the sorrow.
People shouldn’t feel bad for these other cities, though, because at least they tried.
Of course, the way Chicago tried to win is probably the reason they didn’t earn the bid.
U.S. President Barack Obama went to Copenhagen to try to sell the idea of Chicago as the 2016 host city to the Olympic Committee.
That was asinine, and that is the reason Chicago got voted out in the first round. They only received 18 of 94 votes.
Thank you, President Obama.
Is it outrageous to think that maybe the I.O.C. was insulted by having a country’s president come and tell them how they should do their jobs?
No it is not.
It is the job of the host city to present and try to earn a chance to invite the Olympics into their backyards.
The president or leader of the country shouldn’t be meddling in the proceedings, and neither should his wife.
It doesn’t matter that the Obamas have strong ties to Chicago. Going to Copenhagen was out of line and none of his business.
What makes it even worse is that there were other, more important, battles to be fought at home.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have our president dealing with the economic and health care issues currently facing our country? Oh, and then there’s that little skirmish going on in Afghanistan, but that’s not a big deal, right?
Apparently not. The Olympics were clearly on the top of his priority list.
So that is why Chicago lost.
Not only was it rude and quite arrogant of Obama to go speak on the behalf of and pitch for Chicago, it is karmic punishment for having a man in our highest elected office not focusing on the important things facing the United States.
So don’t feel bad for Chicago or the United States. Our fearless leader did this to us.
Thank you, President Obama. You are the reason we didn’t get the 2016 Olympics.
