Comments on: Some thoughts on the Olympics, Chicago and Obama

By: JA

JA — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:40:39 +0000

Not wanting to deal with the US customs was probably one of the big reasons why we were out in the first round, but it wasn’t the only one. Let’s be honest… Chicago has nothing going for it. It’s cold. It’s windy… etc. Rio is the complete opposite… (in a good way :-)). It was a no brainer :-)

By: JA

JA — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:38:21 +0000

By: Chandler

Chandler — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 21:45:50 +0000

Actually, I was planning on renting my entire house out and then either taking a month’s vacation to do sailing charters at suitably extortionistic rates or just leaving the country until things calmed down again.
Maybe now, Da Mayor will be able to return to the usual level of graft and corruption as well as possibly even finding time and money to run the city.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:14:46 +0000

Aww c’mon Chandler. Sacrifices have to be made. And think of how much you could have rented a parking space out for :^)

By: Chandler

Chandler — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 11:32:14 +0000

As a resident of downtown Chicago, I can say that I did not know a single person who supported bringing the games to Chicago. I don’t know where the 55% who did not oppose it (the survey data was spun so that “undecided’s” and “didn’t care’s” were reported as pro-games) lived.
I’m absolutely not saying those people didn’t exist, but they didn’t seem to exist among those of us who were actually going to have our day-to-day lives significantly impacted by it.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 11:18:26 +0000

Speaking as a Chicagoan of somewhat over 20 years standing, I think the Olympics would have been on-balance beneficial to the city, despite the obvious risks. What Daley has been able to accomplish downtown — Millenium Park, creating the museum campus, even his patronage-fueled street beautification stuff — has hugely helped boost the city’s image (and I say this as one with no illusions concerning the degree of corruption around). That said, this isn’t the biggest deal in the world. A truly great city can shrug its broad shoulders and move on.

By: Constant Gina

Constant Gina — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 17:23:47 +0000

This is an obvious decision…who would choose Chicago over Rio De Janero?? wtf

By: Rob Sama

Rob Sama — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 17:00:46 +0000

The idea that Obama would have received blame had he not gone is absurd on its face. No President has ever received blame for not winning an olympic game. Nor has a President ever put out the public effort to win the games as Obama had. It was reckless and irresponsible for him to have gone there without knowing what the outcome would have been beforehand. And it was a supreme waste of American Presidential prestige.

By: Reaganite Republican

Reaganite Republican — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 15:15:43 +0000

What a shame the racketeering scum of the Chicago Machine won’t have this windfall to milk, LOL And aren’t things going great since Valerie Jarret has been running the country? http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com