Obama was told a trip to Olympics meeting may clinch Chicago win

LA Times ^

[Chet 99]

Reporting from Washington - In the run-up to the Olympics vote, the White House was getting a clear message from the architects of Chicago's bid: Balloting would be tight, and a personal visit to Copenhagen from President Obama just might lock in a victory.

Leaders of the Windy City's campaign to secure the 2016 Games had done some nose-counting and were convinced the International Olympic Committee might well anoint Chicago as host, according to White House officials interviewed Saturday.

"The intelligence that we had from the U.S. Olympic Committee and Chicago bid team was that it was very close and therefore well worth our efforts," said Valerie Jarrett, a senior White House advisor. "The message was that . . . a personal appeal from the president would make a huge difference."

[lmarie373]

What are the consequences when an egomaniac gets humiliated in front of the world? hopefully we wont find out ...

[GeronL]

balloting was tight already.

“My country sucked until I was elected as their savior” went over real well. /sarc

[usmcobra]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

It's Obama's fault they lost.

[bytesmith]

Anyone know how few votes they got?

I believe it was 18 votes for Chicago.

[CyberAnt]

Hmmmm ..?? Did the Euro weenies just set Zero up ..??

Surely Zero is more intelligent than to fall for a trick like that ..?? Hmmmmm ..??

Or was it Miss Jarrett’s GREED for Olympic dollars that caused her to press Zero into going ..??

[freekitty]

ROTFLOL

Obama has done so much damage to this country inside and outside; they would never consider it.

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

Wy dont people see this for what it is? Valerie Jarrett, who is a Daley disciple, send Obambi to Copenhagen to get thrown under the bus, as a reminder who he works for? Obambi better start getting sh*t done for Chicago and the Daley Disciples or the wheels are going to come off his bus back home too? Just thinking out loud.... :oP

[mrsmel]

Intelligence? So that is what the Obama administration has the CIA doing these days, spying on the International Olympic Committee. Forget about al Qaeda and the Taliban and Iran's nuclear program.

They're waaay out of their depth when it comes to dealing with global matters of importance, so they try to look relevant by going to Copenhagen to bag the Olympics. Also, they don't care about the war on terror nor our troops.

[LiberConservative]

Nations overseas know when their asses are being kissed.

[Mister Muggles]

In awarding Chicago the 2016 Olympics, the IOC would have been setting the wrong precedent of allowing celebrity politicians (sic) influence their decision. Clearly, they didnt want to do that. So, in effect, King Ray Ray’s trip had the complete opposite of the intended effect...

[rod1]

Oh is that all it takes.
OK well I am telling Obama to make no changes in Health Care and impose no new taxes or fees.

There, that was easy.

[Feline_AIDS]

I think Chicago got 18 out of 94.

[InvisibleChurch]

I just love that graphic.

[mlizzy]

Methinks the IOC didn’t like being “stronarmed” and didn’t like the narcissist either ;-)



I'm wondering if you could be right on this ... I'm sort of glad he went because if he didn't he would just think it was because he was a no-show. Now he knows there's more to it than that, however, I don't know if he'd ever figure out your idea. It's a bit of a shame Chicago didn't win the Olympics as I live only thirty minutes away, but on the other hand, it would have cost them plenty, and it's definitely not as beautiful as Rio as the above pics illustrate.

[maggief]

The ‘machine’ set me up.

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

See my post at 47. I posted it before I read yours.

[Bahbah]

"It was always in his mind that he wanted to go and would go," Axelrod said. "But he needed to leave himself a little bit of room in case healthcare was on the floor."

If they believed this thing was close to getting on the floor, they are seriously stupid. But, in fact, they are just lying again, as they always do.

[mylife]

I think MO’s impassioned pitch made all the difference L0L

[Aria]

Well, it could be that they were never told the vote was close and this is their way of trying to make excuses for spending so much of our money in order to enrich zero’s crooked friends.

[D-fendr]

In time for Christmas, new book:

“Barack Obama’s How to Make a Killer Sales Presentation”