From the ArcaMax Publishing, Clarence Page Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/clarencepage/s-623451-634921
Ah, well. Let the games begin -- somewhere else!
Even President Barack Obama's magic has its limits, it turns out. The
International Olympic Committee rejected Chicago's bid to host the
Olympics, despite the president's quickie trip to make the pitch in
person.
In the end, Chicago was the first to be eliminated -- in the first
round of voting and with fewer votes than fellow finalists Tokyo,
Madrid and the eventual winner, Rio de Janeiro.
Sometimes the magic works, sometimes it doesn't.
In fact, Obama and the rest of Chicago's powerhouse delegation, which
included his wife, Michelle Obama, Mayor Richard M. Daley and his
wife, Maggie Daley, and the powerhouse Queen of All Media, Oprah
Winfrey, was fighting an uphill battle all along.
Expectations were overinflated by all the media hoopla surrounding
historic trip, as media hoopla surrounds everything Obama does. But as
the final bidding indicated, the insider club known as the IOC has
minds of its own.
Speculation runs wild as to why Chicago lost. Most of it follows a lot
of personal agendas. The negatives that various analysts and critics
bring up -- crime, corruption and cronyism lead the pack -- are hardly
unique to Chicago and are certainly no worse than the problems faced
by Rio.
Rio took an edge in less tangible yet viscerally felt ways. Chicago's
presentation to IOC, despite the Obama glitter, was lackluster and
disorganized compared to the colorful and passionate presentation
delivered by Rio.
Brazil reportedly played the geopolitical card skillfully, holding up
maps that showed South America to be the only region left without a
single Olympics. This apparently touched the hearts of the IOC, which
likes to think of itself as a groundbreaking force for international
development and unity.
And how unkind but savvy it was for Brazilian President Luiz Inacio
Lula da Silva to use a certain Chicagoan's famous slogan when talking
to reporters to promote his country's bid: "Yes we can!"
"For some countries, it is just one more sports event that they are
going to organize," he said. "But for us, it is a unique and
extraordinary thing."
That's more than you could say for a lot of folks back in Chicago,
where a Chicago Tribune/WGN poll indicated that, either way the IOC
decided, about half of the city would be happy or, at least, relieved.
Only 47 percent of Chicagoans favored bringing the games here,
according to the poll, while 45 percent opposed it.
That's a fair measure, in my humble view, of an intelligent Midwestern
ambivalence, two warring attitudes deeply imbedded in the cultural DNA
of Chicagoans when they are exposed to a deal that sounds almost too
good to be true.
One of these attitudes is the boundless optimism captured in the
ambitious slogan often attributed to the great Chicago architect/city
planner Daniel Burnham: "Make no little plans."
Burnham brought the world such wonders as the World's Columbian
Exposition of 1893. His grand vision is constrained in today's
Chicagoan only by a healthy skepticism, as expressed in the late
Chicago City News Bureau's slogan: "If your mother says she loves you,
check it out."
Visions of Chicago's great past triumphs danced in the heads of local
folks. But, with one former Illinois governor in jail and another
famously under indictment, so did the possibility of a grand,
overpriced boondoggle with powerful elites stuffing their pockets and
regular taxpayers left to foot the bill.
Political rivals of Obama and Daley stop at nothing to wage a partisan
attack -- and in some cases boost TV ratings -- by smearing Obama's
efforts to bring the Olympics to the United States.
And that's too bad. Los Angeles showed in 1984 that an Olympics can
make a profit, if it's done right. It can create jobs, boost commerce
and build civic pride and national unity. But that requires a sense of
shared purpose that Chicago and our national politics aren't very good
at pulling together these days.
Instead, Obama and his hometown's leaders hear calls to scale things
back. Don't take on so much. Make only small plans. Little plans "have
no magic to stir men's blood," said Burnham, "and probably will not
themselves be realized." Burnham had a point, but small plans seem to
be all that a lot of Americans want to tackle these days.
Someday, my Midwestern optimism tells me, the Chicago and the America
that Burnham knew will be back. Until then, let the Games begin in a
place that appreciates big ideas: Brazil.
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E-mail Clarence Page at cpage(at)tribune.com, or write to him c/o
Tribune Media Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, NY
14207.