Look, I don't necessarily care if Chicago had gotten the 2016 Olympics or not. What annoyed me about the whole process was that President Obama took time away from dealing with a messed-up economy (or a jobless recovery, depending on how you look at it), an increasingly unpopular war in Afghanistan that really needs some attention from him, a national debt that is skyrocketing, and, if you lean the other way politically (hi, Dad), taking over the health-care system and punishing energy consumers.
As Tommy Christopher pointed out to me earlier today, President Bush certainly did not get a free pass when he was seen to be taking long ranch vacations or playing golf a lot. (Remember "now watch this drive"?) So why was it okay for President Obama to drop everything to lobby for this? (Granted, Mr. Christopher was looking at his statement from a different angle than I was, but my point stands.)
It was a lose-lose situation for President Obama to go on this trip anyway. Why? Well, if he were to get the Olympics for Chicago, and the conventional wisdom in the MSM was that he would, then charges would be made (and were already being made) that he went just to get his own personal glory about having accomplished this. (This drive for personal glory does seem to color some of his policy decisions. Yes, that's my opinion. It's also my blog.) And now that he hasn't succeeded (or, as some ecstatic people on my side have put it today, "EPIC FAIL"), that is seen as a personal slap in the face for President Obama and his credibility (further discussion here). It is my opinion that he would have been much better off had he simply stayed in Washington.
This ever-so-slightly snarky video from Cuffy Meigs appears to sum this whole story up:
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