Barack Obama says hosting Olympics in 2016 could repair America's image

Barack Obama says hosting Olympics in 2016 could repair America's image
Owen Gibson in Copenhagen guardian.co.uk, Friday 2 October 2009 11.02 BST Article history



Barack Obama is the first serving US president to appear before the IOC. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Barack Obama today sought to link Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics with his wider foreign policy goals, promising to use the Games to reconnect America with the world.

After flying in to Copenhagen this morning to speak on behalf of his former hometown, which is going head to head with Rio, Madrid and Tokyo in today's International Olympic Committee vote, Obama vowed that one legacy of the Games would be to rehabilitate America's image in the eyes of the world.

Obama, the first serving US president to appear before the IOC, said that he hoped that one legacy of the Games would be to serve as a "reminder that America at its best is open to the world".

The president, whose decision to make a flying visit to Copenhagen to lobby in person has prompted criticism from his political opponents back home, told the 106 IOC members who will decide the destination of the Games this afternoon: "This could be a meeting in Chicago, because we look like the world. And over the last several years sometimes that fundamental truth about the United States has been lost. One of the legacies of this Olympic Games would be the restoration of that understanding of what the United States is all about and a recognition of how we are linked to the world."

He promised to put "the full force of the White house and the State Department into making sure that not only is this a successful Games but that visitors from all around the world feel welcome and will come away with a sense of the incredible diversity of the American people".

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/oct/02/barack-obama-2016-olympic-bid-chicago

TEXT at LINK: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/10/barack-obama-olympics-remarks-text.html

VIDEO at LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFRZs2HZfNc

I don't think so, we can do much better than that.

and our image began to improve immediately..and, if you need examples then you haven't been paying attention.

Our Olympics history is not so good. Doing the summer Olympics in Atlanta was one of the most idiotic decisions EVER! Just the colossal waste of energy in trying to keep people cool outside!

Then there was Salt Lake City....

the former mal-administration.

I can say that in my experience the US has been in sore need of repairing its image for a very long time. And I can say that the Obama's are doing a great job of giving the US a good image for the first time, not of repairing it. At least in my lifetime.

30 for the U.S. (down nearly 29): http://www.intrade.com/
51 for Rio (up 14): http://www.intrade.com/jsp/intrade/contractSearch/index.jsp?query=Venue+in+South+America+to+host+the+2016+Summer+Olympics

Someone on MSNBC reported from Copenhagen that the presentation of the U.S. "fell flat" and it was really bad during the question and answer session.

I hope it goes to Rio only because we ALWAYS get our way in every other aspect.

:(

He should have never gone. There is good reason other Presidents have not gotten involved with the corrupt Olympics. Poor judgement and I expect it came from the his little troll Rahm.