Obama’s Olympic failure will only add to doubts about his presidency

How much did this boondoggle cost the American taxpayers when our Government is running such a huge deficit in part due to the failed stimulus package of Obama? Why didn't Chicago pick up the tab? The amount of people the Obama's flew on AF planes is disgusting. We want to know when the Treasury gets paid back from Chicago because this was not the business of the US President. We are still waiting to hear about reimbursement to the Air Force for his political trips. How much did this boondoggle really cost? We have seen estimates of over $1M which wouldn't be a shock with all the planes, manpower, and equipment that was transported.

Would bet his meeting with General McCrystal was nothing more then a photo op so they could say that was part of the trip. Lecturing the General for 25 minutes while spending four+ hours with the IOC shows his lack of caring about the soldiers in Afghanistan that need more troops for support.

This is one of many disgusting moments since the uniformed electorate (hear that MSM) and ACORN voter fraud made Obama President, but this one may be the worst. First his wife's speech about sitting on her Dad's lap -- give us a break as we can count. We don't see many 20 year olds sitting on their Dad's lap. Then the teleprompter speech of Obama to the IOC. The man cannot even speak for five minutes without a teleprompter? That I, I, I speech was certainly not from the heart. It was an insult to the IOC to have him read his speech. He could have faxed it in and saved the taxpayer's money.

What was Obama doing making an office in the White House for the Chicago Olympics and getting Valerie Jarrett an exemption from the rules on hiring? More and more we are seeing the Chicago corruption creep into the WH but then look how many of his key advisors come from the Chicago Daley machine -- Axelrod, Emmanuel, Jarrett for starters.

Best thing that happened to Americans in our opionion was Rio getting the Olympics because the Chicago corruption would have bankrupted the Olympic Committee and the US Taxpayers would have been on the hook to save the games.

Obama’s Olympic failure will only add to doubts about his presidency
Tim Reid in Washington

Barack Obama fails to make the case for Chicago to the IOC in Copenhagen

There has been a growing narrative taking hold about Barack Obama’s presidency in recent weeks: that he is loved by many, but feared by none; that he is full of lofty vision, but is actually achieving nothing with his grandiloquence.

Chicago’s dismal showing yesterday, after Mr Obama’s personal, impassioned last-minute pitch, is a stunning humiliation for this President. It cannot be emphasised enough how this will feed the perception that on the world stage he looks good — but carries no heft.

It was only the Olympic Games, the White House will argue — not a high-stakes diplomatic gamble with North Korea. It is always worthwhile when Mr Obama sells America to the rest of the world, David Axelrod, his chief political adviser, said today. But that argument will fall on deaf ears in the US. Americans want their presidents to be winners.

Mr Obama was greeted — as usual — like a rock star by the IOC delegates in Copenhagen — then humiliated by them. Perception is reality. A narrow defeat for Chicago would have been acceptable — but the sheer scale of the defeat was a bombshell, and is a major blow for Mr Obama at a time when questions are being asked about his style of governance.

At home, it is difficult to turn on a television and not see Mr Obama giving a press conference, or an interview, or at a town hall rally, in his all-out effort to sell his troubled reform the US health insurance system. After three months of enormous exposure, Mr Obama has achieved this: the growing likelihood of ramming a Bill through Congress with — at most — just one Republican vote.

Abroad, Mr Obama promised in his Inauguration address to engage America’s enemies, and he has done just that. He has very little to show for it. Yes, Iran took part in bilateral talks with the US this week over its nuclear weapons programme — but that is something Tehran has wanted for years. There is still a very good chance that the meetings will prove to be an exercise in futility and a time-wasting ploy by Tehran.

Mr Obama also scrapped a plan for a missile defence shield in the Czech Republic and Poland, hoping to get in return Russian co-operation behind new sanctions against Tehran. There was optimism when President Medvedev said “sanctions are seldom productive, but they are sometimes inevitable”. Yet Vladimir Putin, and the Chinese, remain fiercely opposed to sanctions.

Meanwhile, America and its allies are being forced to witness a very public agonising by Mr Obama and his advisers over his Afghan strategy — six months after he announced that strategy.

This has all added to the perception that Mr Obama’s soaring rhetoric — which captured the imagination during last year’s election — is simply not enough when it comes to confronting the myriad challenges of the presidency. His spectacular Olympic failure will only add to that

Source: See UK Times