Obama Makes Personal Pitch to IOC for Chicago’s 2016 Olympic Bid
EmailABC News’ Karen Travers reports: President Barack Obama, perhaps Chicago’s most famous resident, added his global star power to his hometown’s efforts to win the 2016 Olympic Games and made a personal pitch to the International Olympic Committee on behalf of the Windy City. In a four-minute video message to the IOC, Obama touted Chicago’s diversity and culture, calling it “that most American of American cities.” “It’s a city where the world’s races, and religions, and nationalities all live and work and play and reach for the American Dream that brought them here; where our civic parades wave the colors of every culture; where our classrooms are filled with the sounds of the world’s languages; and where jazz and rancheras and bhangra can be heard down the street from one another,” Obama said. The IOC’s Evaluating Commission was in Chicago over the weekend for an official visit to assess the city’s Olympic bid, touring potential venues and event locations. Chicago is competing with Madrid, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro for the games. The IOC will make its decision in October. Last summer, after Chicago was named a finalist to host the games, then-candidate Obama made a surprise appearance at a rally and said he liked the idea of opening the Olympic ceremonies in his hometown, in the final months of his second term as president. "In the interest of full disclosure, I have to let you know that in 2016, I’ll be wrapping up my second term as president. So I can’t think of a better way than to be marching into Washington Park alongside Mayor Daley . . . as president of the United States and announcing to the world, ‘Let the games begin,’” Obama said. Obama moved to Chicago as an adult and worked as a community organizer. He emphasized his local roots in his pitch to the IOC. “After your visit, once you discover the Chicago that I know – the city that I made my home, the city where my wife grew up, the city where we raised our daughters just blocks from where these games will be held – I am confident you will discover that you’re already in the perfect host city for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” he said. Grant Park, the site of Obama’s Election Night speech to 100,000 supporters, is one venue the city is planning to use for the games. –Karen Travers
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I love Chicago, but didn’t it have a tremendous number of murders last year?
I’d like to see the Olympics go to Tokyo.
Posted by: MayBee | April 6, 2009, 12:59 pm 12:59 pm
Sure – send the Olympics to the most corrupt city in America. Perfect!
Posted by: Plumber | April 6, 2009, 1:08 pm 1:08 pm
I’m surprised Obama isn’t pushing for the Olympics to be held in Istanbul.
After all we’re not at war or will be at war with them plus it would be a nice gesture and make the world like us more than they have.
Posted by: Sigmond | April 6, 2009, 1:22 pm 1:22 pm
Maybe Chicago could get stimulus money to pay for the Olympics. We could have a special event called the Arrogant American. Where B.O. invites others from around the world to the windy city to tell us Americans how bad we really are. Reverend Wright can do the opening prayer. Michele Obama can close the event by telling us how proud she is of her country, for the first time in her life, again.
We could have another called mock the Special Olympics, Barack Obama could be the sole judge or dictator if you will and fire those he thinks don’t cut the muster, ala Private auto makers.
Posted by: CJ | April 6, 2009, 1:24 pm 1:24 pm
Maybe Chicago’s bid will be the real test of Obama’s pull with world leaders…
Posted by: matt | April 6, 2009, 1:29 pm 1:29 pm
Maybe the Olympics could be shoe horned into one of Rezko’s empty lots.
Posted by: Kat5 | April 6, 2009, 1:37 pm 1:37 pm
Fine – if in tandem with no Sochi for Winter Olympics 2014
It is less than a 100 miles from where Russian troops crossed the border to supportseparatists in their daring attack on Georgia.
Posted by: robert b | April 6, 2009, 1:40 pm 1:40 pm
Oh sheesh, with the economy the way it is right now, why in the heck would he want to bring the VERY VERY expensive Olympics to Chicago???? Glamour? Ego? yes, such events bring revenue, but both Beijing and Athens have learned too well that it is far more costly than the potential revenue, and Athens is still harboring the debt.
Why on earth bring more debt to Chicago? Ohhhhhhh, that’s right, he still hasn’t paid the debt to Chicago for the cost of that Grant Park travesty where he “celebrated” his victory. What’s another 100 million dollars of debt amoungst corrupt friends?
Meanwhile…… Obama angers the French president, where he tries to get Turkey into the EU. Sarkozy tells Obama to butt out. This after Obama calls America “arrogant”.
How much will Obama embarass our beloved America in just the mere days he is in Europe?
Posted by: decentAmerican | April 6, 2009, 2:25 pm 2:25 pm
Obama touted Chicago’s diversity and culture, calling it “that most American of American cities.”
The Olympics are really important right now….hummmmm, more ego at work.
Maybe he is right: most of the notorious characters are no longer
in Chicago, they have moved to the
government in DC.
Posted by: Monet | April 6, 2009, 2:40 pm 2:40 pm
I think the world has heard enough out of Barry the deadbeat.
Posted by: Jeff | April 6, 2009, 2:41 pm 2:41 pm
He has embarrassing us and the United States. I think the Olympics should go to Tokyo, Japan.
Posted by: anonymous | April 6, 2009, 2:42 pm 2:42 pm
Chicago conforms to Obama’s idea of America. Very high taxes, thugs for politicians, ACORN bully voter fraud dominant, but in this instance having the taxpayers pay up so he can be more popular is what this is about.
Chicagoans know this is a losing proposition. They don’t care. The politicians, just like Obama when he was in Chicago, share any spoils and kickbacks from union construction and other projects while sticking it to the taxpayers to pick up the tab.
Same as usual.
Posted by: Nobama | April 6, 2009, 2:43 pm 2:43 pm
I hope he doesn’t have to get as tough with them as he did with North Korea. Boy he sure stood up to them! Oh yes he certainly did. Umhmm, he really did. Yup.
Posted by: CraigL | April 6, 2009, 2:44 pm 2:44 pm
Obama calls America arrogant and divisive.
But he is the one that needs the adoration of the world to feed his ego.
And he is the one recently polled as the most polarizing president in 40 years.
Posted by: sammy | April 6, 2009, 2:51 pm 2:51 pm
Whether or not I’m voting for Obama…I’d be careful about talking like the history on a second term s already written. Or is the way politicians have to speak?
Posted by: TobB | April 6, 2009, 2:53 pm 2:53 pm
The taxpayers are gonna pay for this too no doubt.
Posted by: tyler | April 6, 2009, 2:53 pm 2:53 pm
Ok, this is getting ridiculous. “Nobama”: Let the ACORN allegations go, McCain lost, big deal. Get over it. The PEOPLE chose Obama, not a few ACORN employees. But, whatever helps you sleep at night. Keep clinging to the past, and what mightve been, if your McCain, (Whom you didn’t even give a second look during the 2000 primaries, instead, you picked Bush. You guys can sure pick the winners.) Bottom line: LET IT GO!
Posted by: badfish2829 | April 6, 2009, 3:03 pm 3:03 pm
“And he is the one recently polled as the most polarizing president in 40 years.”
Because childish Republicans fed by their even more childish media dislike him.
He’s doing well with independents (and of course Democrats).
Posted by: Ryan C | April 6, 2009, 3:06 pm 3:06 pm
I don’t think we should have the event in any arrogant American city.
Posted by: DontGet818OnMeNow | April 6, 2009, 3:38 pm 3:38 pm
maybe we can have ACORN run the Olympics. they have done such a great job for our country in the past. Instead of awarding medals for winning a competition, we can just give everyone that shows up medals because we gots to give the medals to all participants. We can’t have winners and losers can we? Big Guy would not like that.
Posted by: rustard | April 6, 2009, 3:45 pm 3:45 pm
Let the ACORN allegations go,
——-
There are more than 17 indictments, recent guilty pleas and congressional hearings, that unless dems pressure it away, a congressional investigation has been recommended to investigate the coordinated illegal activities of ACORN. The recommendation is coming from the congressional black caucus, not some republican. John Conyers is the one.
Acorn did not pop up in the last election. They have been around for years and Obama trained recruits, and helped stage “intimidation events” at Chicago banks where these ACORN thugs, coordinated by Obama would enter a meeting of local bankers and surround them being intentionally intimidating, their words not mine, to force them to make more of these toxic mortgages.
I know you will need to look it up to believe it, or you will follow the usual deny, deny, deny of the denocrat mantra.,
And this is the group that has been hired to help with the Census to determine congressional districts.
I would love to get over it but they are insidious, corrupt, closely linked to Obama (read the congressional testimony) and illegal campaign contributions. All in addition to the voter fraud.
I have no doubt dems would like us to not look at the ACORN group. You dems can then continue to funnel money to them for illegal activities to steal elections and money in any way they can.
Posted by: Nobama | April 6, 2009, 3:50 pm 3:50 pm
rustard: we could let ACORN do a census while the Olympic participants are here..and let each one of them vote.
Sound like an idea?? It just might get more democratic votes and get the republican districts changed to democrat.
Posted by: Monet | April 6, 2009, 4:40 pm 4:40 pm
jake, nice article on you in the national review…
they admire your integrity: you are one of the few who didn’t become a media mouthpiece for the one….
outstanding!
Posted by: al | April 6, 2009, 4:45 pm 4:45 pm
author of national review piece on jake says:
“Tapper may be content where he is, but for now, Robert Gibbs and the rest of the Obama administration would probably be a lot happier if he were anywhere other than the White House Briefing Room.”
ha! excellent!
Posted by: al | April 6, 2009, 4:47 pm 4:47 pm
WHOA…Ryan C…I am a registered Californian Independent..Socially liberal and economically conservative…And always favorable on our military with friends who are members of the ACLU….NO NO NO not every independent nor democrat approves of Obama and his policy decisions..Respect the Office, absolutely without question..the man??? Let’s just say Obama is looking more and more like a one term President…Betting the next TRUE MODERATE will take 2012…
Posted by: Parallax View | April 6, 2009, 4:49 pm 4:49 pm
Obama is focused on the Olympics, and giving the Queen of England an I-pod featuring his speeches, while Americans increasingly suffer on his watch:
“The Labor Department’s April 3 report that the economy shed an additional 663,000 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate rose to 8.5 percent, will be followed by months more of bad-news headlines, economists say. The recession, now in its 17th month, has already cost 5.1 million Americans their jobs, the worst drop in the postwar era; unemployment may hit 9.4 percent this year, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey, and may top out above 10 percent in 2010.
“The risk is that the jobs picture turns even more bleak than forecast or the drumbeat of bad news still to come causes consumers, whose spending has firmed up in recent months, to hunker down again.”
That’s Mr. Obama’s Labor Department talking, not Rush Limbaugh. Few, if any, really think this poor, overmatched man knows what he is doing. Man Americans will suffer horribly for his ineptitude. I just thank God that I’m not one of them.
Posted by: Fascist Hyena | April 6, 2009, 4:53 pm 4:53 pm
“He’s doing well with independents…”
That’s simply false: his approval among independents has dropped sharply.
“In the new National Public Radio poll conducted by the Democratic polling company Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and its Republican counterpart, Public Opinion Strategies, 42 percent of the 800 likely voters surveyed March 10 to 14 said that if the next congressional election were held today they would vote for the Republican candidate; an identical percentage of respondents said they would vote for the Democratic one. For several years, Democrats held a substantial lead on this question…
“Many Democratic congressional leaders shake their heads with disdain or in disbelief over what they see as the Obama White House’s preoccupation or even obsession with pleasing independent voters by promoting bipartisanship, but reaching across party lines is critical to Obama’s success. Independent voters do not like partisanship, whether it is practiced by Democrats or Republicans. If Republicans really have pulled even or slightly ahead among independent voters, that is a very ominous sign for Democrats, an indication that Obama’s talking the talk of bipartisanship isn’t sufficient and that he and the Democratic majorities on Capitol Hill have to walk the walk.”
Posted by: Fascist Hyena | April 6, 2009, 5:03 pm 5:03 pm
Let’s see what the Pew Research Center (right-wingers all, of course) have to say about how Mr. Obama is faring with independents:
“Since February, views of the new president have become much more partisan…while more than twice as many independents approve (57%) as disapprove (27%) of his job performance. However, the balance of opinion among independents was much more positive in February (63% approve, 14% disapprove).”
Looks to me like his approval among that group dropped six points in a single month. And he’s just getting started…
Posted by: Fascist Hyena | April 6, 2009, 5:08 pm 5:08 pm
Congratulations Jake for the good review you received in NRO.
There are only a few journalist that show any kind of integrity and you are one of them.
Posted by: meggie | April 6, 2009, 5:20 pm 5:20 pm
More on Obama and Independents:
“As I wrote in the Obama half-time report, Obama’s approval rating is dropping. According to Schoen [a self-described Democrat but no doubt a right-winger] and Rasmussen, Obama’s approval rating is below where President George W. Bush was in an analogous period in 2001:
“Overall, Rasmussen Reports shows a 56%-43% approval, with a third strongly disapproving of the president’s performance. This is a substantial degree of polarization so early in the administration. Mr. Obama has lost virtually all of his Republican support and a good part of his Independent support, and the trend is decidedly negative.”
Posted by: Fascist Hyena | April 6, 2009, 5:20 pm 5:20 pm
Monet, you just might be on to something. ACORN can make up the ballots and then fill ‘em out for us. That way they don’t lose valuable time intimading us. We might have to help the ones who can’t read or write though. Hey what kinds of presents do you think our fearless leader’s going to redistribute today….Hold on, I got to go sing kum by ya.
Posted by: rust | April 6, 2009, 5:48 pm 5:48 pm
Jake Michael Jordon just got elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame can you ask Gibbs if all 5 inductees will be invited to the WH?
Posted by: Jordon Fan | April 6, 2009, 6:28 pm 6:28 pm
The right-wingers at the CBO have some terrible things to say about what is happening on Mr. Obama’s watch:
“WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. budget deficit almost hit $1 trillion during the first six months of this fiscal year which began on October 1, according to estimates released on Monday by the Congressional Budget Office.
“The government likely recorded $953 billion in red ink from October through March including $290 billion for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, which was to provide much-needed cash to struggling financial institutions, the CBO said.
“Receipts during the six-month period dropped about $160 billion, or 14 percent, over the same period in fiscal 2008. Nearly half of the drop, $73 billion, came from a fall in corporate income tax receipts.
“The CBO, the nonpartisan budget analyst for Congress, said the drop in corporate receipts was the largest in more than three decades.
“In comparison, the federal deficit for the first six months of fiscal 2008 was $313 billion, roughly a third of the estimated current total.”
Posted by: Fascist Hyena | April 6, 2009, 8:42 pm 8:42 pm
You conservative extremists are a pathetic lot! When Dictator Bush was making a laughing stock of the US of A I didn’t hear you complain one bit.
Now you are complaining that Obama isn’t quick enough in cleaning up the mess that GW left. Wow, you people really are a bunch of whiny losers.
Posted by: Independent | April 6, 2009, 8:55 pm 8:55 pm
I think that the possibility of the Olympics being held in the US again is great. It is a respectable and honorable tradition that would bring some pride back to our country.
Posted by: Katie | April 7, 2009, 12:15 am 12:15 am
Would be great to have the Olympics in the U.S. Would definitely help the economy of the city/state where held. However, I would think the Olympic committee would pick a less violent location, such as Fallujah :)
Posted by: Global Fraud! | April 7, 2009, 10:37 am 10:37 am
Chicago? Surely you jest. The place is a festering sore of corruption. Surely even the IOC has some standards. Kenya would be less likley to subject the Committee to bribery and threats.
Posted by: ProtectFreedom | April 7, 2009, 6:21 pm 6:21 pm
The IOC will be afraid to not choose Chicago for fear of being called racist.
Posted by: m | April 8, 2009, 10:56 am 10:56 am