Community | September 28, 2009 | 9 comments

Obama Draws Criticism for Pausing to Promote Chicago Olympics Bid

source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/28/obama-draws-criticism-hitting-pause-promote-chica...

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President Obama is taking his eye off the ball, his critics say, chiding him for his plan to travel to Denmark to make the case for having his hometown of Chicago host the 2016 Olympics.

The White House announced Monday that the president will travel Thursday night to Copenhagen to make a personal appearance before the International Olympic Committee as it prepares to announce the host city for the 2016 Summer Games. Obama will join his wife, Michelle, who is leading the U.S. delegation, along with senior adviser Valerie Jarrett.

But with the health care debate still brewing, with Iran stoking international concerns over its nuclear program and with a decision pending on how to deal with the rising violence in Afghanistan, the president will be leaving at a key time for his administration.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said Obama's decision is a sign that the president needs to "establish some priorities" -- the most pressing of which, he said, is the need to respond to Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request for more U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

"The president can't make everything a number one priority, because the end result will be that there is no priority," Hoekstra said. "Nothing is a priority, because everything is a priority."

Obama's trip to Denmark comes as lawmakers in the House and Senate continue their fierce debate over health care legislation, which still hasn't moved to a floor vote in either chamber.
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9 comments // Obama Draws Criticism for Pausing to Promote Chicago Olympics Bid

  • samthesixth
  • JohnA
  • NotFooled
  • ocanada
    • 0
      ocanada  
    • NotFooled:

      God damn people. If you are going to make a historical criticism get the damn thing right so you don't reveal yourselves as idiots! It's Nero not Ceaser and an apt example of that metaphor being applied wouldn't be an Obama presidency where despite whatever you think of him he is an example of an activist presidency, an active leader. Bush attending a country music concert or John McCain's birthday party while one thousand people drowned in New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast, that is Nero Fiddling While Rome Burns.

    • 2 years ago
  • NotFooled
  • ocanada
    • 0
      ocanada  
    • NotFooled:

      I know Nero was a Ceaser, but Ceaser as a title rather than a name. More often than not because of the amount of Ceaser's in Roman history the phrase is popularly repeated as it was in the time, Nero Fiddles while Rome Burns.

      I still don't think that the metaphor is an apt one. Obama has been an activist president. Having to deal with two wars, the worst global recession in modern history, climate change, And it isn't as it the Olympics aren't something worth getting for America. Especially for the midwest which has been hurt far more than most regions in America in terms of the recession. Shining a global light on the heart of the Midwest after a tough couple of years. The Olympics will have a huge affect in Indiana and Michigan as well as Illinois and Chicago.

    • 2 years ago
  • ocanada
    • 0
      ocanada  

    • The Olympics are some of the most potent public diplimatic forums in the world. It is a week long comercial for both peace and everything that your nation stands for. It boosted China's image and at a time when America is mistrusted because the seeds of the current financial crises were sewn here a boost and a celebration is something we could all use. The Olympics will belong to America not just Chicago. He would have been criticized either way. For failing to bring the Olympics to his country and his home town he would have been called weak or noncomittal.

    • 2 years ago
  • JohnA
    • 0
      JohnA  
    • ocanada:

      It won't be for all Americans, it will be the Obamalympics if he succeeds in getting them to Chicago. After going around apologizing to the world about how terrible America is, he'll make fools of us. Obama is not the public face we want shown to the world. Think Berlin 1936 Olympics.

    • 2 years ago
  • Reaper26
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