Until I started reading stories about Barack Obama’s failure in Copenhagen, I didn’t realize just how pathetic were the arguments used in support of Chicago as the 2016 Summer Olympic venue. In short, Obama and Chicago played the diversity card, but got out-diversified, and in the ultimate irony, out-historified.
Here is Rahm Emanuel’s explanation of the pitch Chicago would present to the IOC:
“There’s no better city in the United States or the world to host the international community than Chicago — because of the diversity,” Emanuel said. “You’re going to bring literally the whole world together for Olympic games, sports games, and competition. Chicago’s a great competitive city — has always been that. It has a great amount of diversity and it would be great for Chicago also for not only its diversity but for the economic opportunity that it provides in the sense of jobs and economic growth….
“Nothing against them, but Chicago is what none of the other cities have and this is again what I think the president’s remarks will be, not saying anything negative against them, but you’re bringing all the world together… The world will feel comfortable given the diversity of Chicago all the different ethnic communities are there…”
Mind-numbingly stupid on multiple levels, not the least of which was strategic. We were up against Rio de Janeiro, which was pitching its location based on there never having been an Olympics in a tropical nation … and Brazil is mega-diverse (at least as that term is used in left-wing intellectual circles). Brazil is a nation of color, a mix of African, indigenous Indian, Hispanic, Portugese, and other non-Anglo, non-Aryan, non-Asian, non-light skinned cultures, in other words, a nation which looks nothing like any nation which ever has hosted the Olympics.
If the diversity of Chicago was our main selling point, we didn’t have a selling point stacked up against Rio.
But the diversity as trump card mindset is so deeply ingrained in the Obama administration and its sycophants that they could not see the foolishness of their pitch. So Obama doubled down in Copenhagen:
You see, growing up, my family moved around a lot. And I never really had roots in any one place or culture or ethnic group. Then I came to Chicago. And on those Chicago streets, I worked alongside men and women who were black and white; Latino and Asian; people of every class and nationality and religion. I came to discover that Chicago is that most American of American cities, but one where citizens from more than 130 nations inhabit a rich tapestry of distinctive neighborhoods.
Read the whole thing, it is a speech which could have been delivered at almost any corporate diversity training session, but as a reason to award the Olympics to Chicago and not Rio, it was delusional. Obama acted as the straight-man to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who so out-diversified Obama that IOC voting members must have split their guts.
First off, his nickname is Lula, which makes Barack Hussein Obama seem so first-worldly. As reported by Times Online, Lula’s speech won the day, focusing the delegates on the need for Olympic-location diversity and the chance to make history:
President de Silva said: “I honestly think it is Brazil’s turn. It is South America’s bid. This is a continent that has never held the Games. It is time to address this imbalance. It is time to light the Olympic cauldron in a tropical country.”
Sepp Blatter, the chief executive of Fifa, the world governing body for football, said Mr de Silva’s speech “went under his skin”. Other IOC members may agree. Of the four bidding cities, Rio is the only one that offers them the chance to make Olympic history – something they may feel compelled to do if they follow their hearts rather than any nagging fears about Rio’s crime issues.
Rio bid chiefs held the inspirational trump card and offered a stunning visual backdrop for the Games. But the real selling point is access to a young population on a continent that has yet to be touched directly by the Olympic movement.
Obama was out-diversified. And in the ultimate irony, the most historic person in recent history was out-historified. That has to hurt.
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Comments
Rio sounds fun to me.
Has Barrack Hussein Obama, while President, ever given a speech without the words 'I' and 'me'?
Thanks for the link to Obama's IOC speech. I hadn't read it before and I didn't know it was so painful.
I love how America's sense of "diversity" seems to be projected to the rest of the world by some people. I mean, Rio's not diverse. They're all Hispanic… *sigh*
The IOC membership is interesting to note. If Wikipedia has it right, 45 members are from Europe, 12 from North America (including two from Mexico), another 4 or 5 from Australia — and only six from South America, plus surprisingly small numbers from Asia and Africa.
So the "First World" members hands down control the business.
I watched the speeches and presentations live and at the time remember thinking if they win on this presentation then this was a foregone conclusion. Michelle Obama's speech was nothing more than "I had a sick father and this would mean a lot to me". I worked for years as a therapist and can attest, people have their own miseries they carry through life. Michelle Obama's is not particularly unique or compelling. I thought her speech showed a gross level of self-involvement and frankly a sheer lack of empathy that there are many more people in this world who have overcome much more than she has.
The presentation was much more about the Obamas than selling Chicago. It was all too clear that Obama believed this would be the piece de resistance having the Olympics in Chicago in the last year of what would be a second term for him. That presumption alone is incredibly arrogant. Can you imagine the media covering those Olympics mourning the last year of his presidency and praising his foresight in bringing the games to Chicago? This was massively narcissistic and little to nothing to do with Chicago. It should be a wake up call but it won't be. Narcissists don't tolerate those intrusions.
I will say that this is pretty insightful analysis and it's also hilarious that the diversity pimps of the left got out-hustled by their own on a subject to which they likely imagined they had exclusive, worldwide, rights–sort of like they assumed they had the Olympics in the bag.
Thank God for Lula 🙂
The fact is that Chicago probably had little chance of winning, but the ego of both of the Obamas as well as Oprah Winfrey was just so big that they really thought that the IOC would fall all over them, slobbering upon them in the same way as the media lapdogs who continue with their salivating….. yuk….
I love the city of Chicago. I love its history, its buildings, its museums and lakefront, and especially its food. But Mayor Dailey and a host of others "leading" Chicago have made it into a pit. The people of Chicago will survive and win, but they need a real house cleaning. If you understand what being a Cubs fan is all about, then you will understand what I am saying. I hope all the best for the people of Rio.