City of Big Shoulders....Stacker of wheat....Chicago.
Not City of Big Olympics after all.
Let the pundits blame Obama and claim it's a loss to the President, while the other side brushes it off as no big concern for the President.
At the national level, it won't make much difference, and the big-time talking heads on the national news shows will find other dry bones to pick at. All the talk will continue in Chicago, where the local pundits are already questioning Mayor Richard Daley's chances of survival.
He was banking on the Olympics to bring construction jobs and truckloads of money to his city, to be distributed among his many friends who keep him in power. The city is essentially broke, thanks in no small part to the high cost of corruption and the expense of the sweetheart deal.
Now there's no such windfall in the offing, no gifts to be doled out to his patronage army.
The citizens are outraged about their ever-rising property taxes. They're livid about the parking meter fiasco, in which the meter business was leased to an outside firm that promptly jacked up rates and drove business from the neighborhoods. Broken meters, meters that only took quarters when parking was over $3.00 per hour....it's been a disaster that might have been forgotten if the Olympics were coming to town.
But there's not to be Olympic games in Chicago in 2016.
Pundits are ready to start taking bets on whether or not Richard Daley will run again for office, under the presumption that the slap in Copenhagen could prove to be a fatal blow.
Sports lovers look to Rio de Janeiro. They are advised to pack heat. The crime rate is obscene.
2 comments:
Was wondering what you thought about the... landing.
I happen to like Chicago very much, but I guess I'm just a traveler :)
As for Rio. Yeah... been there. One of the most gorgeous cities I've ever seen, as long as you look at it from the isolated, well guarded rooftop of your hotel, or walk the beaches with no money, watch or camera... However, having said that, may be I should go to the Rio Olympics, just to cheer that I won't see O's face everywhere. Can you imagine the nauseous scene it would've been in Chicago... were he to be elected for a second term, that is.
The Big O won't be much hurt by the loss politically. Today's embarrassment is forgotten tomorrow.
So he won't get to be king of Chicago in 2016. By then, he'll be trying to be inconspicuous, having gained the gold medal for worst U.S. President ever.
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