Obama’s botched Olympic bid should not be a failure

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Column by Shannon Frazer

I’ll admit it: I’ve always been a Barack  Obama fan. Yes, I know that his opposition questions the president’s stances on several key issues such as his incessant pushing of health care reform, pulling troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan and stimulating the economy to get the U.S. out of its current slump.

Yes, I realize that his advocating for longer school days and calendar years may not look appealing to every American citizen, particularly the school-age population. And yes, I am aware the man has been getting a lot of beef about wasting time on renewable energy research endeavors. Obviously, Obama is a man who wears many hats; that’s to be expected of anyone with the title President of the U.S.

One thing I cannot get over, though, is why everyone is giving Obama such a hard time about not winning the bid to the 2016 Olympics. Since when did not getting an Olympic bid make a national leader a loser?
Obama was convinced by Chicago’s Olympic campaign leaders the Windy City had a reasonable shot at being selected as the 2016 venue. In fact, they encouraged him to go to Copenhagen, Denmark, in person.

According to a recent New York Times article, Valerie Jarrett, a senior White House adviser stated, “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. The message was that … a personal appeal from the president would make a huge difference.”

In the form of a well-intentioned intelligence committee, even the president can fall victim to peer pressure.

While Obama’s efforts were admirable, I have to mention perhaps we Americans shouldn’t be as quick to point the finger as we seem to be on other hot topics facing our president today.  We have to remember that although hosting the Olympics is a great honor for any country, that factor alone is not necessarily indicative of what makes a nation stand out at the Games.  More so, the performances of the country’s athletes should be the determining factor.

Americans need to come to terms that our ethnocentricity is not always going to put us out on top. Sure, it’s great to embrace patriotism and celebrate all the great athletes to come out of the U.S. both past and present, but in order to appreciate that, proof needs to play out on a world stage.

That proof cannot be based upon technicalities, as with the publicized scandal involving alleged underage gymnasts on the Chinese team at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Any athlete will acknowledge while it’s great to have home-court advantage, the real measure of achievement comes when he or she is representative of the underdog “away team.”

Yes, the U.S. was knocked out in the first round of host selection, but don’t give up on Obama just yet.

Also take into account that 2016 will mark the first time that Rio de Janeiro has hosted the Olympics. In fact, prior to its selection at the International Olympic Committee meeting, no other South American country has had this honor.

In comparison, the U.S. has hosted eight times to date. I say it’s time we pass the torch, and cut Obama some slack while we’re at it. He’s got a lot on his plate right now.

Shannon Frazer is a journalism senior. E-mail opinions@kykernel.com.