Oct 4, 2009 Article by Joseph Fosco | 1 comment

Holy IOC, Batman! The Dynamic ‘Two Os’ of Chicago Fumble Olympic Bid

Not too long ago, the slight majority of America’s registered voters, gripped in a frenzy reminiscent of Charles Manson’s followers, voted into the presidency a community organizer from the most corrupt city in America. Barack Obama, our first half-white President, was treated as if he descended from Heaven, truly the answer to every woe and worry in the United States.

Funny thing is Obama didn’t descend on the White House alone, though. With him came a small mountain of Chicago Machine politicians and bureaucrats. Some media outlets have referred to the White House as the 51st ward, illustrating how Obama’s meteoric rise also meant the promotion of Chicago’s (and Daley’s) agenda to the national stage. Among the many objectives of the 51st ward was the acquisition of the 2016 Olympic Games.

All of Obama’s most powerful Chicago allies wanted these Games, including the mighty Oprah. To support Barack Obama in his bid for the White House Oprah backstabbed the Clintons, going great lengths to churn as much media support as she could to protect and promote Obama. This obviously meant Obama was in hock to Oprah (along with countless other Democrats in Chicago) and the guaranteed success of the 2016 Olympic bid would be the first of many markers to be called in.

Now that his man was in the White House, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, the de facto power broker in Chicago Machine politics, appeared overly confident about the prospect of getting the games, gallivanting around the world for the last two years with billionaire Pat Ryan. I won’t even mention all the sucking up to Oprah Winfrey, including the recent closing down of Michigan Avenue so she could do her show last month. This tight knit group of Chicagoans schemed to promote their ultimate vision of a Chicago Olympics (and the mountains of revenue and power it would supply them), while most of us sat blithely by as they did so. While the little guy would be regulated into oblivion in the name of the Olympics, these Monsters of the Midway would cash in big time on construction revenue, tax increases and increased international clout. The fix was in, success all but guaranteed.

So it came as a terrible shock to all the adherents of Obamaism when the combined power of Obama and Oprah, the dynamic ‘Two Os’ of power and influence peddling in Chicago, could not work their magic on the International Olympic Committee.

God bless America, because America needs as many blessings as it can get, particularly now that it is painfully obvious that Obama is not the ‘God’ we believed he was. I believe Daley was thinking the rest of the world would be as naive as the majority of America’s voters were on Election Day last year. “Yes We Can” was the slogan that made voters in last year’s presidential race delirious. As the credibility of this matra wanes it is now a pitch for the manufacturer of Chia pets. Obama’s resounding failure only digs the hole a little deeper.

Apparently we Americans needed the unbiased opinion of the IOC to deal the eye-opening reality check that no one in America, especially the media and talk show hosts, has been willing to deal. A Chicago insurance salesman, mayor, talk show host and former community organizer might wield a great deal of power in Chicago, but the IOC has made it abundantly clear the rest of the world is not swayed by the influence of Chicago (thank God!). The Windy City, best known for the Al Capones and John Difronzos of the world, is a town rife with terrible violence and horrendous corruption, and that’s why it was voted unfit by the international community. No amount of slick talk and backroom politicking could smooth this one over.

The Olympic dream has gone on for two years and Mayor Daley and Pat Ryan have enjoyed it more than anyone has, I am sure. After the reality check the IOC boldly dealt us, there’s no excuse for Daley to not deal with the deficits, taxes, parking meters, corruption and the entire slew of other deficiencies this fine city suffers from. I cannot wait to see how long Chicago’s Police Superintendent Jody Weiss keeps his job, now that his resume is no longer a necessity for showboating. Despite his outsider and reformer status (shades of Daley Sr.’s appointment of Orlando Wilson), Weiss was never able to change the way the CPD operated, and arguably will be leaving Chicago in an even more miserable state than he found it. Sadly it matters not in the end, because he was little more than window dressing anyway.

As a post script, it will be interesting to see if any of the co-hosts on The View will accuse the IOC of a possible racial motive against Obama. They will need something new to talk about, because I doubt they will bother remembering how they commented on August 2009 being the deadliest month for U.S. Military in Afghanistan (since 9-11) while Obama was preparing for his trip to Copenhagen in order to appease the allegedly corrupt Cook County/Chicago Democratic Machine bosses.