Do you think Chicago's Olympic bid has, well, already won?

[Jackeens]

At the risk of sounding like a Freeper, would the President really risk going to Copenhagen only to see the Chicago bid lose?

I'm not - OF COURSE!!! - saying that he has inside knowledge of where the votes are going, but perhaps those organising the bid do...and so, um, confident are they that they convinced him the trip would be a happy one. :shrug:

And let's be honest, the Olympic movement isn't the purest (eg http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/297030.stm , http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/261193.stm)

Of course if, say, Rio wins it'll be



for me.

[Avalux]

1. I think Chicago has won it already.

Partly because it's time for the US to host again - last was Atlanta (awhile ago). And I agree; doubt Obama would travel there unless there was a really good reason to do so. ;)

[onenote]

15. why do you say its time for the US to host again?

The US last hosted in 1996. Of the other nations in the running, Spain last hosted in 1992, Japan last hosted in 1964 and no country from South America has ever hosted.

I would like to see Chicago get it, but in terms of which location is "due" for a bid, Chicago doesn't exactly top the list.

[truebrit71]

32. I disagree with that..Spain won't get it because 2012 is in London...

Japan won't get it because Bejing just had it...Rio won't get it because the World Cup is in Brazil in 2014...

Not a shoo in..but I think the logic is pretty solid..

[onenote]

44. why does the 2014 world cup disqualify Rio?

The 1994 World Cup was in the US and the olympics were held in Atlanta two years later.

[truebrit71]

47. Two world competitions in the South American continent inside of 2 years?

South America and Africa are two continents that rarely get that sort of sporting exposure..

It's all about tv advertising revenues...and the USA is numero uno for that...

[onenote]

51. so its the location, not how recently they hosted another world sporting event?

If the goal is merely maximizing television revenues, why would Rio be considered for either event?

You seemed to suggest that the fact Brazil was getting the World Cup in 2014 undercut the argument for Rio getting the olympics two years after. Yet, the US got the Olympics two years after hosting the world cup, so your argument can't be based on time proximity. And if its based on maximizing television revenues, why would it ever be be moved out of the Americas where the time zones work best for live coverage?

Also, Brazil is the world's fifth largest country in terms of population and a very attractive market for the folks that sell coke and pepsi and other stuff that advertises on the olympics.

To reiterate, I want the olympics to come to chicago, but Rio has a strong case.

[alcibiades_mystery]

36. Japan hosted the Winter games in 1998

Just FYI.

[City Lights]

41. The US has already hosted the Olympics more times than any other nation.

We've hosted the summer games 4 times and we've hosted the winter games 4 times. Our closest competitor in Olympic hosting is France with 5; 2 winter, 3 summer.

Why is it time for the US to host it again?

[truebrit71]

48. Television. Advertising. Revenues.

That's why ;-)

[tblue]

2. It worked for the White Sox. I don't know if a fix is in, but Obama is kinda golden.

What he envisions usually wins to pass, one way or another. Wish he wanted single payer as much as he wants the Olympics in Chicago.

[BlooInBloo]

3. I have no idea. Could be the way you and others describe it...

Or it could be a last-ditch attempt to snatch it away from someone else who has tentatively cinched it.

I have no idea.

[jenmito]

4. I'm hoping so, but

this morning, Chuck Todd (IIRC) said Obama was hearing from the Chicago machine that he BETTER get to Copenhagen and TRY to get the Olympics, and Obama figured there would be less fall-out if he WENT and didn't get the bid than if he DIDN'T go and failed to get it.

That said, he ALSO reported that Chicago is now in 2nd place and if Obama goes, it could put us "over the top" so we win.

[Baltoman991]

5. Is Chuck

using those famous "unamed sources" again? LMAO.

Honestly, I don't think Obama answers to any political machine but leave it to Chuckles to stir up crap to get his mug on the teeeeveee.

[jenmito]

7. Of course he is...

so maybe Obama DOES have it in the bag!

(Hi, Balto! :hi: )

[Cha]

23. Of course, that's Gotchuck's reason

for being.

[Phx_Dem]

72. Chuck is probably his own "unnamed source."

:rofl:

[high density]

14. lol, as if Obama is owned by the "Chicago machine"

What a joke!

[jenmito]

18. I'll be HAPPY if Chuck's wrong. n/t

[Thrill]

17. That sounds like the typical made up bs from Chuck Todd

The "I'm hearing" crap. He just looks like hes full of shit when he says it.

[jenmito]

19. I wonder if he has the guts to say the same thing at today's briefing with Gibbs...

in the form of a question, of course...

[LiberalFighter]

34. Todd couldn't figure out what he was told without a cue card.

[Cha]

24. Sounds like they really want it for Chicago..

whatever the details are and their way is to cover all the bases.:)

[Beacool]

39. Figures............

The Chicago machine is still at it.

:eyes:

[Craftsman]

6. One of my wife's college friend lives outside of Chicago

She is praying they do not get it. If they do she is saying she and her family will go see family in Mass for the 2 weeks.

[grace0418]

10. I live in the city and it's not just going to be two weeks of hell for city-dwellers. The next

several years are going to be a nightmare. Ugh.

[frazzled]

12. Well, we need to start communicating with and pressing our aldermen now

Because they won't stand up to Daley without a huge amount of pressure from constituents. I iive in the 42nd Ward (downtown), and I know my alderman, Brendan Reilly, is promising to listen to us and hold lots of public meetings.

The only thing positive I can think of is to bear the insanity this will be ... and then charge some rich Belgian or Kuwaiti a freaking fortune to rent our condo for a week or two. But that's not for 6 1/2 years ... maybe I could get them to prepay? (Note to self: start working on condo board to allow this sort of short-term rental for this one time only.)

[grace0418]

22. I hear you. Although my Alderman is pretty decent, I think he's in good with Daley

so I don't see him putting his constituents desires first if they aren't in line with what Daley wants. We'll see.

Good idea renting out your condo. I don't think ours is convenient enough from downtown to make that an option. It's plenty convenient for us (we live right off the Brown line and right near the Ravenswood Metra stop), but outsiders think it's sooooooooo far away. :)

[grace0418]

8. I was bummed when I found out Obama was going because I live in Chicago and DO NOT WANT

the Olympics here. I've been resisting my husband's pleas to move outside the city for years, but now even I want to get the hell outta Dodge if it's going to be 24/7 Olympics mayhem for the next several years. And I highly doubt any of the "improvements" will really improve the lives of Chicagoans.

[Clio the Leo]

13. I live near Atlanta, trust me....

you all will LOVE the revenue. we are two hours away and it's been 13 years and we are Still benefitting from the Atlanta games. Infrastructue improvemens, all of that.

[grace0418]

20. Mayor Daley likes to do superficial things to impress the neighbors, but

the nitty gritty stuff that only benefits residents gets ignored. And even if he does manage some real infrastructure improvements that benefit Chicagoans in the long haul, the jobs will be so mismanaged for the next 6+ years that we'll be living in traffic/commuting/construction HELL for the entire time. We're already in traffic/commuting/construction hell, it will just be new levels of it that I cannot bear. Especially during the winter.

Since I've been working at home this year, I've seen the way the city manages jobs. Just one example: They put up parking signs on my street so they could replace the area where the sidewalk dips into the street with new, handicap-friendly treads. This was at the end of May. People couldn't park on the street because the ban went from 6am-3pm. So unless you got up and left for work at 5:30, you had to find somewhere else to park. Meanwhile it took them three solid weeks to even start the work. The ban was in place but NOTHING was happening. When they did finally start the work, they showed up at 10 am, sat around smoking and talking on their cell phones, worked for maybe an hour, then took a long lunch break, milled around looking busy for awhile, then took off at 2:30 or 3. This was every day, I kid you not. I started really paying attention once I noticed how little they did. And that's when they showed up, which didn't happen every day.

It ended up taking them until mid-July to finish installing the treads on a total of 8 corners. Oh, and they had to tear up my front lawn to replace a portion of the sidewalk. When they were done, all they did was dump some old dirt where portions of my lawn had been. No sod, no seed, didn't even spread the dirt out evenly so it looked okay.

That's what the Olympics prep is going to be like, multiplying the headaches by 5 billion.

[Abq_Sarah]

46. The IOC

Had a huge problem with Atlanta and all the corporate sponsorships. It saved the taxpayers millions of dollars but it wasn't seen as being in the proper "spirit" of the games. With that in mind, is the IOC going to look at having the taxpayers shoulder the burden as a condition in Chicago?

[Thrill]

9. Can't believe he would go if it wasn't already in the bag

.

[nsd]

16. +1

[larryhorse]

11. And more importantly

Will they have to call in Mitt Romney to straighten out the clusterfark again? That could be embarrassing!

[jberryhill]

21. I believe there is another purpose for the trip /nt

[thatsrightimirish]

25. For Chicago's sake

I hope Rio wins.

[blue_onyx]

26. No, I don't think Chicago has won already

Chicago was in third, behind Tokyo and Madrid, in the first round of scoring. Personally, I don't really care whether Chicago gets it. If they do great, if they don't that's fine too. I don't think Chicago will get it.

[Jackeens]

27. First round of voting hasn't taken place yet, starts Friday.

When is the decision?
This Friday. Voting in Copenhagen begins at 5 p.m. -- that's 10 a.m. in Chicago. If Chicago is eliminated in one of the early rounds of voting, we'll learn then. But if it's one of the final contenders, word won't come out until the announcement ceremony, scheduled from 11:30 a.m. to noon Chicago time.

How will the decision be made?
On Friday, members of the International Olympics Committee will vote secretly by pressing numbered buttons for either Chicago, Madrid , Tokyo or Rio de Janeiro. (There are 106 eligible members, but those from a country making a bid cannot vote until that country is eliminated. That means there will be 99 eligible voters in the first round, since Brazil, Japan and the United States have two IOC members apiece, while Spain has one.)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-olympics-faq,0,5386482.story

[blue_onyx]

28. I was referring to....

the scoring to narrow it down to the 4 finalist. Chicago got a 7.0, Madrid 8.0, Rio 6.3, and Tokyo 8.3.

[Jackeens]

30. Ah, okay- but that was the preliminary evaluation, not the first round of voting. All to play for!

London, apparently, was third in the 2012 preliminary evaluation, but won out in the end.

[old mark]

29. My understanding is this is pretty much a photo op - the decision is made,

it's all about the publicity now. Obama will be there for a few hours, then back on the plane and back to DC.

The GOP is making much more ont of this than there really is, as usual.

mark

[Clear Blue Sky]

31. Of course the deal is done. Why would he go there only to not get the bid?

[Arugula Latte]

33. Not to be a Negative Nelly, but isn't Chicago ungodly humid in the summer?

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

35. No more so than anywhere else in the midwest...

And if you can stand up to the humidity in Atlanta, Chicago is a piece of cake.

[Critters2]

58. Downright pleasant compared to St. Louis. nt

[truebrit71]

37. Not as bad as Hotlanta...

..and there was a ton of griping about that when everyone showed up and got all surprised about how un-godly humid it was in GA in August...

[Beacool]

40. No more than Atlanta.

Then again, those were not the best Olympics if I recall correctly.

:(

[City Lights]

43. Ungodly? No.

We definitely have our humid days in the summer, but it's nowhere near what the southeastern part of the US experiences.

[grace0418]

45. Usually, although this past summer never happened. The warmest weather we got was

earlier this month. The rest of the summer was a giant suck.

But yes, it's hot and humid in the summer, although no more so than many other previous host cities.

[Beacool]

38. In all fairness, it should go to Rio.

South America has never hosted the Olympics and we have done so more than once.

:-)

[BluegrassDem]

52. So? The Olympics wouldn't exist without American money

And that is not hyperbole. If American companies pulled out of Olympic endorsements, the IOC would fold up camp. Also, Rio has one of the most expensive Olympic blueprints in the history of the Olympics. Brazil is not rich. I shudder to think that the government will have to pour all the money into staging the Games at the expense of the heavily impoverished people in its cities. Rio is not used to such a world wide event. It has no business hosting something of this magnitude. That's why the Olympics have been in mostly wealthy countries.

Rio's Olympic bid is bloated and top heavy...not every efficient...kinda like Hillary's campaign for president.

;)

[Beacool]

53. Brazil deserves the Olympics far more than Chicago.

Not that I personally care where they end up. As far as I'm concerned they are a money pit for the host city. Most of them have not been profitable.

As for your last sentence, Hillary still would have been the better choice.

;-)

[jenmito]

54. So you're rooting against the U.S. getting the Olympics?

Would you feel the same way if Hillary were president and was planning on going to Copenhagen to try to get them here?

[Beacool]

56. Aren't you the one who said that she doesn't want them in Chicago?

I'm rooting for South America on this one. They deserve a shot too. But of course, the wealthy countries always steamroll over them.

:)

[jenmito]

57. No. Now can you answer my question about if Hillary were president?

TIA.

[Beacool]

60. If she were president she wouldn't have been flying to Copenhagen.

:shrug:

[jenmito]

62. My question is if you'd feel the same way if Hillary were president and DID go. n/t

[Beacool]

64. Given everything else that's going on here right now?

Yes, I would. I would expect her to send Bill. I think that Michelle would have done a fine job of representing the nation. He should have let her go there and shine on her own. He's got much bigger fish to fry at home, health care reform and Afghanistan come to mind.

[jenmito]

68. "Given everything else that's going on here right now" you see something wrong

with the president going from Thursday to Friday to try to get the Olympics in the U.S.??? The rumor is that we're in 2nd and Obama going there would put us over the top and we'd win.

What fish do you expect Obama to fry overnight? :eyes:

[BluegrassDem]

69. Did you have a problem when Hillary flew overseas to lobby for NYC in 2012?

Ahh, lest we forget! As Senator, Hillary lobbied the IOC for NYC. As a U.S. Senator, she had a lot of stuff on her plate. She should've just stayed in D.C. and did her job.

[Beacool]

70. She was a senator, not the president.

This is the first time that a US president goes in person to lobby the Olympic Committee.

;-)

[Jackeens]

71. 'Firsts' aren't always bad things, Beacool.

:-)

[Beacool]

73. No argument there.

I just think that he really didn't need to go since Michelle was already going there to represent the US. I'm sure that she will do a great job without his assist.

:hi:

[Jackeens]

74. I......

:yoiks: .....agree. But maybe for different reasons?! My biggest worry, based on the history of these things, is that the chances of the bidding process being corruption-free are slimmer than my wallet. And if proof later emerges that Chicago, like just about every other Olympic bidding city in history, got up to no good to 'attract' votes.....well, the President could do without being asssociated with it. Way, way too risky, methinks.

:toast:

[quiller4]

42. Yes. I do and I think Obama was informed and that is why he went.

[Honeycombe8]

49. What I heard: It's better to go and lose, than to not go and lose (and get the blame

for the loss because he didn't go).

No, it's not a given that Chicago has it.

[ShadowLiberal]

50. No, 3 other world leaders are going there to fight for their country to get it to

The leaders of Spain, Brazil, and somewhere else (I forget) are all sending their #1 leader there to try to get the 2016 Olympics hosted in their country.

And experts say (from what I've read) that it's VERY difficult to determine how the 102 votes who will determine where it'll be held will determine their votes.

[Odin2005]

55. I will be jumping for joy if it's Chicago.

It will be close enough for me to go! :bounce:

[Critters2]

59. How will Chicago deal with its youth violence problem

and the risks that that will negatively affect the Olympics?

Chicago has huge problems that need attention before it hosts the Olympics.

[Prism]

61. Chicagoans don't want them. Please let it be Rio.

This entire Olympics business has been one giant vanity project for Mayor Daley. No one wants to deal with the massive disruption that will come should Chicago win. Furthermore, the financing in place, despite many weak assurances that the taxpayers won't get shafted, has many people justifiably nervous (the taxpayers have a habit of getting shafted in Cook County).

While I tend to like Mayor Daley's green space initiatives and the beautification of the city under his reign (and there is no other word for it), Chicago is a city wallowing in graft, patronage, and corruption out the wazoo. Right now, the citizens are watching the Cook County Board with total awe. How can a body be so brazenly, nakedly, shamelessly corrupt and still somehow remain in power?

The Olympics would be Daley Patronage x 1,000,000 and people are already heartily sick of it. The usual rich and well-connected will benefit, the urban poor will be further displaced, gentrification will continue at a rapid pace, and at the end of the day, taxpayers will be going "Wait, why did we do this?"

No. A thousand times no. Not this city, not this county, not this state, not with this many corrupt politicians making millions while the average citizen takes it up the rear yet again.

Edit: I would also be remiss in failing to note, while the politicians, celebrities, and wealthy have been pumping the Olympics, the city has descended into a violent, terrifying hell of drug dealing and open gang warfare. The city government has been absolutely powerless and inept in stemming the tide of violence that is resulting in a wave of youth crime and murder that would shock the outside world if they knew about it. Of course, it's getting papered over in many media so it doesn't hurt our chances, but google Chicago school children and violence, and try to wire your jaw closed when you see how many are being murdered on our streets. No neighborhood is safe. I had to leave the city last year, because I no longer felt secure, even in a very nice neighborhood. A robber walked up to a man a block from my old place, put a gun to the back of his head, and pulled the trigger. For his wallet.

Fuck. That.

[Beacool]

63. When we in NJ get frustrated about our politicians' corrupt ways

we exclaim "at least we are not Chicago" and instantly feel better. How many years have the Daleys ruled the city?

:D

[Prism]

65. Twenty years

It's such a mixed bag. On the one hand, the city is aesthetically beautiful in a way no one could have imagined given how things were in the 80s.

On the other hand, democracy is practically dead here. There is Machine rule and only Machine rule, and no one plays ball here without making sure the right powers are appeased and the proper wheels greased.

[Beacool]

67. Twenty years???????

Is Daley's first name Fidel by any chance? LOL!!!

Seriously, your city is ran like it's controlled by the mob. I've seen enough of the "machine" here, but it's not as entrenched nor as monolithic as it is by you.

[Buck Feck]

66. No