...i'm getting there...

I wrote the below post yesterday afternoon between 2 meetings. I wish I had time to really go over my thoughts and clean it up, but I don't.  I am writing this pre-note b/c I am proud of myself. After reading today's NYTimes at lunch, I realized how close I am to thinking, in this case, along the lines of an intelligent critical thinker.  Although I think it can be argued that most writers for major papers are drowning in political ideology to the point where they can't separate the truth and honesty from their own ideals. However, I can't either I guess.  My point is that I am close to what was written in today's OpEd. Read that first, or this first, doesn't matter.

Obama is coming under fairly heavy fire for his decision to go to Copehagen to lobby for the Olympics. Republicans cite that he is "wasting time" and has "More important" things to worry about, which is obviously fake and stupid and meaningless. Time doesn't exist to the President, at least not in the sense we think of time. If we go to Florida for 2 days, things will pile up, but we will recover. We spend 6-7 hours on an airplane away from most communication, we have to worry about luggage, bags, transportation, then we take part in whatever activity we do and those days are essentially lost.

But let's get real, the President travels on a flying skyscraper - he doesn't lose time in the floating office, he probably can be more productive without having to field constant visitors and phone calls in the Oval office. The fact that Obama is flying 1/4 way across the earth to lobby for the Chicago Olympics shouldn't offend people in the, "I can't believe he is doing this now" type of way. The offense comes in the waste of it all, the grandeur and arrogance of it.

Let's get completely real and honest, the Olympics are not what they used to be. They are a television event now, really nothing more. Especially one that would take place in the United States, the coverage of US Athletes would feel compelling for 2 weeks, then it would pass. 3 things will be remembered in the 2008 Olympic games from China.

1. The Opening ceremonies were incredible, unstoppable, and now we are learning, a bit friggen creepy.

2. Usain Bolt was an incredible athlete, whose dominance seems to just be starting. He was a pleasure to watch, a once-in-a-lifetime athlete whose records may be broken, but they were remarkable when they took place. 

3. Like every other Olympics since the dawn of man, they are a complete financial drain, and this is the part that should offend us.

These are not the times to be trying to recover confidence, recover votes, or build American momentum by dragging in a behemoth of an event like the Olympics. Nobody is considering that this is a lose-lose situation, and possibly lose-lose-lose.

Lose 1: If we get the Olympics, we waste millions, scar the city of Chicago forever in the aesthetic sense by tearing down buildings and building up new useless ones, and bring an undue financial stress to the whole state of Illinois. Who, by the way, is still recovering from the Blagojevich scandal as well as the fact that their State University is in the middle of a financial scandal of its own, nevermind the fact that they are one of the states that simply refuses to admit that Native American logo usage for sports teams is something you just need to walk away from, end of story.

Lose 2: If we don't get the Olympics, Obama's trip will truly be a monumental waste of time, and the entire international community can take a look at the power/pull that Obama has. If this won't be a sign of the draining of the power of the American Brand, I don't know what would be.

Lose 3: This one is just political bullcrap, but it holds water...the GOP will honestly be able to demolish him during the 2012 election as the President who stood in the face of the Olympic Committee and couldn't even get the games over the likes of Madrid, Tokyo and Rio. Do we really need Obama with a chink this significant in his armor? Is it worth that risk? Do we really want to set the GOP up?