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Obama going to Denmark to pitch Chicago Olympics

Zyphlin said:
I was under the impression that the Heads of State of the other three host cities in the running went to the IOC to lobby for it. If that's the case, I have no issue with Obama doing it. There are methods of ettiqutte expected in the diplomatic and world wide political stage that are present and this would seem one of them. The olympics are a world wide event that generates revenue, exposure, and prestige for its host countries.

And lets be realistic here. At most its going to be a few days jaunt to do this. During that time President Obama is unlikely to be away from some form of communication, most likely a high speed internet connection. Almost any briefing he could get at the white house he could still get while doing this. Almost any decisions he needed to make could still be made. Almost any discussion or meeting could be done through video conferencing. The guy isn't in a cave for gods sakes.

Its one of the things I hated when people bitch about this with Bush going down to Texas. Its like suddenly he went down there and obviously he must've bunked down in a cave like ****ing OBL, sans electricity, internet, pens and paper, or a phone.

Yeah, If Obama was literally going over there for an out and out vacation surrounding his pitch to the IOC then I could understand having issue with it. Just like I could understand having issue if/when Bush took actual VACATION instead of just "time away from the white house". But I don't think its the case in this.

When you have some of the advanced communication methods available to you like the POTUS its not too hard to do a lot of your job without actually being "In the office".
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A voice of reason. Thank you.
 
F107HyperSabr said:
No I am absolutely rooting for USA to get the 'Lymics ! I just do not believe that it is dignified for our head of state to be going to Copenhagen to grovel for the olympics. He has already sent the First Lady, and the Oprah is there to cheer on Chicago, and there are tons of athletes there.

It is just too risky a trip. The cost of failure to the American image is too great if he fails.
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I don't think he would have gone if he didn't already know the outcome. We will see tomorrow though.
 
Oftencold said:
I long for the days when the President had a sense of adult priorities, and did not suffer from narcissism.
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And when was this exactly? Certainly not the last administration who left multiple problems for his successor while chiding his opponents with im the decider. The president was left multiple problems it is only an adult sense of priorities that leads a president to handle more than one problem at a time
 
PogueMoran said:
And when was this exactly? Certainly not the last administration who left multiple problems for his successor while chiding his opponents with im the decider. The president was left multiple problems it is only an adult sense of priorities that leads a president to handle more than one problem at a time
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Silly comment. Every president leaves problems for his successor.

Would you prefer Bush declaring that he must remain president until the economy stabilized??
 
beez0811 said:
He is trying to do too many things at a racing pace.

I think that the lives of our soldiers abroad are much more important than the location of a gigantic sports event. Chicago does need help and having it there will be nice, but what about the more important issues?
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The trip lasted a whole 18 hours you act as if the whole trip was him thinking only of the olympics. I remember when bush would take long vacations on the ranch and clear brush and his opponents used to complain about soldiers dying while he was on vacation and his supporters were like its not like hes out of contact and isnt doing work.
The guy can multitask give him credit. Its not like hes eating pretzels and watching the big game
 
Gill said:
Silly comment. Every president leaves problems for his successor.

Would you prefer Bush declaring that he must remain president until the economy stabilized??
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I wasnt talking about the economy persay but about the two wars with no exit strategy and him knowing the car companies where in trouble and leaving that problem to his successor
 
F107HyperSabr said:
that is funny, not nice at all but still funny !!

Didn't Bush go and watch the Olympics in his favorite foreign country ? Maybe he wasn't just doing one thing at a time. Bush awas actually multi-tasking sinc e he saw the 'Lympics and he went to visit were all of the WallMART 'GOOD' STUFF CAME FROM. ..
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As a matter of fact he did. And made an ass outta himself, to boot. :2razz:

bush-smack-ass.jpg
 
F107HyperSabr said:
Obama going to Denmark to pitch Chicago Olympics - Associated Press - Olympics - Sporting News

As per the Associated Press President Obama will go Denmark to pitch Chicago's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

This to me is a lobbying effort. FCOL he is already sending his lovely wife Micelle, and the not so lovely Oprah, along with enough athletes to field a baseball team with a fully staffed bull pin.


I think that this is high risk move by the Prez and if he does not get what he wants he will look like a Bufoon !!!

What do youz guys think ???
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nope. why shouldn't he pitch our country?
 
Oftencold said:
Well, it's too late for that.

Personally, I think that this gives the U.S. an unfair advantage over nations whose elected leaders are too busy with official constitutional duties, such as administering their countries.

Let's see, the war is going badly in Afghanistan while the decision on the General's request for more troops is deferred, the Iranians are testing missiles, and having secret nuclear facilities discovered, terrorist plots are being popping up like toadstools within our borders, and the President, is going to promote a sporting event for his home town.
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i'm certain you tore bush a new one for every vacation he took, and every event he participated in, right?

btw......the olympics provides a world stage. we could probably use some good pub. and last i looked, chicago was in the U.S.
 
F107HyperSabr said:
Obama going to Denmark to pitch Chicago Olympics - Associated Press - Olympics - Sporting News

As per the Associated Press President Obama will go Denmark to pitch Chicago's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

This to me is a lobbying effort. FCOL he is already sending his lovely wife Micelle, and the not so lovely Oprah, along with enough athletes to field a baseball team with a fully staffed bull pin.


I think that this is high risk move by the Prez and if he does not get what he wants he will look like a Bufoon !!!

What do youz guys think ???
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I think if the "Fix" wasn't in, Obama would not go over there to risk failing.


I think the group of people who clamored on about "bush reading to school childeren" look like raging hypocrites for ignoring Obama prefering Leno and the olympics over the troops in Afghanistan.


I think it is telling that even Harry Ried is getting tired of Obama's lack of convictions and decisiveness on anything.


I think Obama is going to make Carter look good.
 
PogueMoran said:
I wasnt talking about the economy persay but about the two wars with no exit strategy and him knowing the car companies where in trouble and leaving that problem to his successor
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Iraq did have an exit strategy. It was pretty much over with by the time Bush left office.

A lot of companies were in trouble. What did you expect Bush to do about it??
 
Reverend_Hellh0und said:
I think if the "Fix" wasn't in, Obama would not go over there to risk failing.

I think the group of people who clamored on about "bush reading to school childeren" look like raging hypocrites for ignoring Obama prefering Leno and the olympics over the troops in Afghanistan.
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Likewise, the people that steadfastly excused Bush's long tenure away from the white house or actions during a crisis (the reading, the ranch during katrina) somehow now crying about Obama doing something every other head of state generally does that in reality isn't going to affect his day to day ability to deal with issues or lead anymore than Bush being in Crawford did (only it'll be fewer days) look just as much like raging hypocrites.

So, I'm curious reverend. I'll ask you straight up.

Do you think its WRONG or IRRESPONSIBLE for Obama to be going to present the case to the IOC himself?
 
Zyphlin said:
Likewise, the people that steadfastly excused Bush's long tenure away from the white house or actions during a crisis (the reading, the ranch during katrina) somehow now crying about Obama doing something every other head of state generally does that in reality isn't going to affect his day to day ability to deal with issues or lead anymore than Bush being in Crawford did (only it'll be fewer days) look just as much like raging hypocrites.

So, I'm curious reverend. I'll ask you straight up.

Do you think its WRONG or IRRESPONSIBLE for Obama to be going to present the case to the IOC himself?
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Yes, I do. It's a local issue, for the mayor, not a presidential issue. I asked this before to those defending Obama, Can you show me where any president has ever gone to a foriegn country to lobby for a city to host the olympics?



I had no problem, with Bush and the reading, There are protocols in place and you don't go moving the president all reactionary like that.

My Father in law was a radio operator on AF1 for three presidents. I state this as fact.



Katrina, again, Local and state issue. I have always said this. I don't blame American Samoa on Obama either.


Crawford? Wasn't that more of a "whitehouse west"? Can you show me how he was not dealing with the national business while he was in crawford?

On that same note, I had no problem with Obama's vacation to martha's vineyard.... These are apples to apples to me, not the olympics, not leno, not 1 contact in 70 days with the commander of a-stan.
 
Zyphlin said:
Likewise, the people that steadfastly excused Bush's long tenure away from the white house or actions during a crisis (the reading, the ranch during katrina) somehow now crying about Obama doing something every other head of state generally does that in reality isn't going to affect his day to day ability to deal with issues or lead anymore than Bush being in Crawford did (only it'll be fewer days) look just as much like raging hypocrites.

So, I'm curious reverend. I'll ask you straight up.

Do you think its WRONG or IRRESPONSIBLE for Obama to be going to present the case to the IOC himself?
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I don't think it is typical for a head of state to become involved in Olympic site selection. It certainly is the first time an American president has.

From the looks of the polls and riots in Chicago, it doesn't sound like the citizens are very interested in it either.

I would like to see all of Obama's Chicago advisors take a vow that they will not make any money from the Olympics if it does come to Chicago.
 
Reverend_Hellh0und said:
Yes, I do. It's a local issue, for the mayor, not a presidential issue. I asked this before to those defending Obama, Can you show me where any president has ever gone to a foriegn country to lobby for a city to host the olympics?



I had no problem, with Bush and the reading, There are protocols in place and you don't go moving the president all reactionary like that.

My Father in law was a radio operator on AF1 for three presidents. I state this as fact.



Katrina, again, Local and state issue. I have always said this. I don't blame American Samoa on Obama either.


Crawford? Wasn't that more of a "whitehouse west"? Can you show me how he was not dealing with the national business while he was in crawford?

On that same note, I had no problem with Obama's vacation to martha's vineyard.... These are apples to apples to me, not the olympics, not leno, not 1 contact in 70 days with the commander of a-stan.
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it's certainly not a local issue. the olympics is a world stage.
 
I don't remember presidents Bush or Clinton helping with the Salt Lake City bid. Where's Michael Jordan? That's who SHOULD have been tapped for this job.
 
Catz Part Deux said:
I don't remember presidents Bush or Clinton helping with the Salt Lake City bid. Where's Michael Jordan? That's who SHOULD have been tapped for this job.
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See now that's smart.


I think the fix is in, and this is all fake publicity for Obama...


but if it wasn't Jordan would have been the man to do it....
 
Reverend_Hellh0und said:
Yes, I do. It's a local issue, for the mayor, not a presidential issue. I asked this before to those defending Obama, Can you show me where any president has ever gone to a foriegn country to lobby for a city to host the olympics?
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As I said, I believe (I heard it on a radio news blip so may be wrong), that the heads of state of each of the other three host cities were personally coming to speak before the IOC. If that is the case the correct nationally diplomatic thing and protocol to do would be to ALSO show up instead of making it that the United States of the America is the only country that appears so disdainful of the Olympics and believe its so unimportant that it does not show it the same respect that the other host countries are.

It amazes me that those that can rally behind the notion that you need a CONSTITUTIONAL amendment to ban flag burning because its unpatriotic are going to have vitriol for a man for attempting attempting to make sure that the U.S. plays host to an international event of immense proportions dating back through numerous y ears and a history of great importance that would turn all eyes onto America, both in countries that dislike us and like us, to see and show our country and our culture.

I don't care if this was Bush lobbying it for (God help me) Dallas if he was in and that was the host city. If other heads of state are NOT lobbying for it, then I agree, he shouldn't go. But if htey are, he should definitely not have the U.S. be the disrespectful schlub who mails it in essentially.

To use an olympic analogy. If the other countries are sending their best I want to send the Dream Team over and make sure we ourselves a gold and show that we are the best, not send over the scrubs we sent over to play basketball up to the last olympics.

And in regards to crawford being White House West...

I've heard you say you have a history in IT. You can't tell me you honestly believe that the President could not be in constant communication and ability to work the entire flight over and the entire time he's outside of that meeting. In reality that meeting may take up...what? A few real "hours" of his time in total that he couldn't be working still? And if that's the case, is it really any different than going mountain biking with Jim Zorn?

I agree with you 100% on the Leno and Letterman stuff. I don't think this is anywhere near the same ball park. One has absolutely zero to do with the Presidency. This at least is involving actual international politics.
 
Zyphlin said:
It amazes me that those that can rally behind the notion that you need a CONSTITUTIONAL amendment to ban flag burning because its unpatriotic are going to have vitriol for a man for attempting attempting to make sure that the U.S. plays host to an international event of immense proportions dating back through numerous y ears and a history of great importance that would turn all eyes onto America, both in countries that dislike us and like us, to see and show .
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The U.S. has hosted this event MANY times just in the last 20 years:

Atlanta
Los Angeles
Salt Lake City.

Why do you believe that we should always need to hog the world's stage, exactly?

There are MANY countries in the world competing to host this event.
 
Summer
1972 Munich, Germany XX
1976 Montréal, Canada XXI
1980 Moscow, Russia XXII
1984 Los Angeles, United States XXIII 1988 Seoul, South Korea XXIV
1992 Barcelona, Spain XXV
1996 Atlanta, United States XXVI
2000 Sydney, Australia XXVII
2004 Athens, Greece XXVIII
2008 Beijing, China XXIX
2012 London, England XXX

Winter
1980 Lake Placid, United States XIII 1984 Sarajevo, Yugoslavia XIV
1988 Calgary, Canada XV
1992 Albertville, France XVI
1994 Lillehammer, Norway XVII
1998 Nagano, Japan XVIII
2002 Salt Lake City, United States XIX 2006 Turin, Italy XX
2010 Vancouver, Canada XXI
2014 Sochi, Russia XXII

We've already hosted these events more than almost any other country in the world.
 
Zyphlin said:
As I said, I believe (I heard it on a radio news blip so may be wrong), that the heads of state of each of the other three host cities were personally coming to speak before the IOC. If that is the case the correct nationally diplomatic thing and protocol to do would be to ALSO show up instead of making it that the United States of the America is the only country that appears so disdainful of the Olympics and believe its so unimportant that it does not show it the same respect that the other host countries are.
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I'd have to see a link to even consider this. But as a raging patriot, I think we are still above that all. ;)


It amazes me that those that can rally behind the notion that you need a CONSTITUTIONAL amendment to ban flag burning because its unpatriotic are going to have vitriol for a man for attempting attempting to make sure that the U.S. plays host to an international event of immense proportions dating back through numerous y ears and a history of great importance that would turn all eyes onto America, both in countries that dislike us and like us, to see and show our country and our culture.
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Huh? I am against any amendment against flag burning, or gay marriage for that matter. :confused:


I don't care if this was Bush lobbying it for (God help me) Dallas if he was in and that was the host city. If other heads of state are NOT lobbying for it, then I agree, he shouldn't go. But if htey are, he should definitely not have the U.S. be the disrespectful schlub who mails it in essentially.
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I would have the same position if Bush did this for Utah. Or wherever. Its not a presidents place IMO. Especially when you have dems screaming at him to take stand on healthcare, and the General in A-stan stating he hasnt heard from Obama in 70 days.....


Priorities my friend....

To use an olympic analogy. If the other countries are sending their best I want to send the Dream Team over and make sure we ourselves a gold and show that we are the best, not send over the scrubs we sent over to play basketball up to the last olympics.
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Catz said it best.


Jordan would have been a better ambassador for the olympics. ;)



And I Fully believe we already have the olympics, if we didn't I don't see Obama going there to give people like me fodder when he fails. :mrgreen:



And in regards to crawford being White House West...

I've heard you say you have a history in IT. You can't tell me you honestly believe that the President could not be in constant communication and ability to work the entire flight over and the entire time he's outside of that meeting. In reality that meeting may take up...what? A few real "hours" of his time in total that he couldn't be working still? And if that's the case, is it really any different than going mountain biking with Jim Zorn?
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I am, and I was going to make a comment about mountain biking and working on a computer. But with my new mount. I can watch movies on my iphone on my bike. so yeah.... He can do that...

I am not claiming he is not. What I am having an issue with, is his seemingly constant delay in making any decisions. And the look to the troops, that they sit there while he fiddles with the olympics, is not a good thing.

I agree with you 100% on the Leno and Letterman stuff. I don't think this is anywhere near the same ball park. One has absolutely zero to do with the Presidency. This at least is involving actual international politics.
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I think, if we were at peace, and not having a huge healthcare debate, sure, why not....
 
Reverend_Hellh0und said:
Jordan would have been a better ambassador for the olympics. ;)
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Someone didn't see his Hall of Fame Speech ;)

He'd probably tell the IOC how they pissed him off at some point in the past and give a great story how he used that to fuel him on the dream team and then smacked one of the IOC's kids while depantsing another one in the opening ceremonies just to show them that Michael Jordan is competitive.....

As to Catz...

I won't lie here. Its the unabashed nationalist in me at times. Its the same reason that by god I want to see us bring home the gold each and every time in each and every event. No disrespect to other countries, but I love mine and when given the choice of promoting it on the world stage I will just about always side with it. If we had it EVERY time I may think differently, but we don't
 
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