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How about that Dream Team???
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The 'Dream Team', as they were called, failed miserably in their efforts to bring the 2016 to Chicago. In fact, of the four finalist cities, Chicago was eliminated first. That was a major shock to Chicago residents who thought the Dream Team could bring home the gold, but it was not as surprising to anyone else who was paying attention.
So how did the Dream Team go so wrong? Well, first of all, take a look at the members of the team - the three big O's (and yes, that is the letter 'O' and not the number '0') - President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey. And as a fourth 'ace in the hole', the final member of the Dream Team was Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.
So with that team, we had representing the United States the mayor of one of the most corrupt cities in the nation, his protege who used Chicago-style politics to get all the way to the White House, the protege's wife and a talk-show hostess. Oprah's presence was perhaps the strangest because she certainly does not make anyone think of athletics or physical fitness anymore. On the other hand, Brazil sent world-famous soccer sensation Pele to advocate for bringing the games to Rio de Janiero. 
Michelle Obama spent her time in front of the IOC talking about herself rather than her country - a tactic that she has no doubt learned well from her husband. Surprisingly she did not mention how she was not even proud of her country until last year, nor did she apologize for anything that Americans have done in the past. So she should get some kudos for that, but pretty much only for that.
The president spent about half of his time doing the same as his wife - just talking about himself and his journey which ultimately landed him in Chicago. He concluded his remarks by talking about how last November people from every corner of the world were watching the election results from Chicago or from home. But then he added it was not about him - because Obama never talks about himself, right? It was a short speech for Obama, as was his whole visit to Copenhagen which lasted all of five hours.
The Obamas' speeches were just part of the problem with Chicago's bid. Certainly neither speech was very persuasive in attempting to bring the Olympics back to the United States, especially after the bribery scandals of the Salt Lake City Olympics and the bombing at the Atlanta Olympics. Given that, why would the IOC want to have the Olympics in a city that has such a full history of both bribery and criminal violence?
Many people have already suggested that this was yet another major failure for President Obama, much like how his stimulus plan has failed to keep unemployment under 8% (it reached 9.8% as of the end of September). Some IOC members apparently felt disrespected by his short stop in Copenhagen. He does deserve credit for at least making an attempt though.
Others of course do not blame the current president at all. In fact, Senator Roland Burris blamed the failure on former president George W. Bush. He believes that the eight years under Bush has caused the rest of the world to view the United States in a negative light. Well if Roland Burris says it then it must be the truth, right?
Compared to the original Dream Team, the players on this latest version paled in comparison and certainly failed in comparison. Based on the presentations of the two co-captains, the Obamas, it was easy to see why Chicago went from the front-runner for the IOC pick to dead last. Selling themselves is not the same as selling the American ideal, especially when one of the Obamas was not even proud of the American ideal until last year. So Chicago lost and Rio won - way to go, Rio! It was a more deserving city anyway.
Rob Binsrick
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