Most Competent And Charismatic President EVAH Rolled By Olympic Politics

It's true that in the overall scheme of things Obama's Olympian Fail isn't that big of a deal. The problem is, if He can't get the little things right, what chance does He have in dealing with the hard and important issues?

Based on the postmortems starting to appear on Obama's No So Excellent Adventure, not much. (NY Times link)

A sense of stunned bewilderment suffused Air Force One and the White House. Only after the defeat did many advisers ask questions about the byzantine politics of the Olympic committee. Valerie Jarrett, the president’s senior adviser and a Chicago booster who persuaded him to make the trip while at the United Nations last week, had repeatedly compared the contest to the Iowa caucuses.

But officials said the administration did not independently verify Chicago’s chances, relying instead on the Chicago 2016 committee assertions that the city had enough support to finish in the top two. Mr. Obama, Michelle Obama, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Ms. Jarrett worked the phones in recent weeks without coming away with a sense of how behind Chicago really was.

“Most of our information came from the committee and the Chicago folks,” said David Axelrod, a senior adviser to the president. “But I don’t want to leave the impression that somehow we went on the basis of faulty information. We went because it was the right thing to do.”

When Chicago was eliminated in the first round after receiving only 18 of 94 votes, senior Democrats began debating whether it had been wise for the president to become so invested in the bid. But with Mr. Obama flying back to Washington and out of pocket for hours, Mr. Axelrod rushed onto television to defend the effort.

“I don’t view this as a repudiation of the president and the first lady,” he said. “He would do it again if he had the opportunity.”

So they didn't do any independent research on the stat of play for the bid? Huh, another case where Obama is willing to meet without and preconditions or preparations. See how well that works out?

It's funny but I imagine that if Chicago had won the vote, Axelrod and company would be claiming a lot of credit for their guy. Since it didn't work out, it's not their fault, it's Bush's.

The IOC and Iowa caucus vote is a dubious comparison but weren't we told that the proof of Obama's executive experience was his success in running a political campaign? Turns out that's actually not a skill set that transferable to every situation after all.

Ace has already taken on the lefts new attack line that those of us gloating over Obama's FAIL really hate America, I'd just like to add one thought to it. We were repeatedly told by Obama and his supporters that many challenges facing the country would improve by his simple presence and that his unique personal skills would lead to improved outcomes on a number of issues.

Guess what? It didn't. Both Obama's made very personal pitches (they each used the word "I" like 26 times each), which focused on their stories not the country's. And what did it get us? A humiliating last place finish. Hell, the evil and heated George W. Bush could have guided us to a last place finish.

It's not that we are glad that America failed (it didn't, Obama did) but that we were right. Those of us who spent the last year and a half saying that tough domestic and international problems were real and not simply going to go away because a guy with an interesting life story and an ability to read a TelePrompter was given the big job.

It might be nice if the left acted like adults and admitted that they were wrong and we were right (yeah, and my unicorn is coming, it's just on back order). Pointing out facts as they exist here in the real world is not the same as rooting against America....and the fact is Obama isn't very good at this job.

I now ban myself for the racism inherent in that statement.

(Story via The Corner)

posted by DrewM. at 11:48 AM

| Access Comments