Chicago Or Rio?

Question of the Day

Which city would you like to see host the 2016 Summer Olympics? The contenders are Chicago, Rio de Janeiro, Madrid, and Tokyo. I'm reducing this to two choices but you can vote for any.

I love Chicago and would love to see it host the Olympics. However, I love to pull for the underdogs, and the fact that no South American city has even hosted the Olympics doesn't seem fair. So I'd have to pull for Rio, under the circumstances.

“It would be overwhelming for our city, for our citizens and for Brazil as a whole,” said Carlos Osorio, the secretary general of Rio’s Olympic bid committee.

While three other finalists — Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo — have also mounted strong bids, Rio has drawn support outside of Brazil’s borders. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, who has been negotiating military deals with Brazil, said he supported Rio’s bid “100 percent.” King Juan Carlos of Spain has said he will throw his support behind Rio if Madrid is eliminated in the first round of voting.

And some International Olympic Committee members have been reported to be enamored of the idea of correcting the Games’ historic neglect of South America.

And since the publication of that article which mentioned that Michelle Obama was going to make the pitch to the IOC, Barack has changed his mind and will attend to make the pitch for Chicago.

Frankly, I'd rather he stay here and continue to pitch for health care reform, but whatever.

Previously, Mr. Obama had said that the pressing issue of health care reform would prevent him from making the trip to Copenhagen. Advisers had also said that they were worried that he could be embarrassed internationally if he traveled to Copenhagen and the committee did not vote for Chicago.

Actually it will be more embarrassing if he fails to get health care reform pushed through than whether or not he can secure the 2016 Olympics for Chicago. And probably more costly in 2012 which should be a bigger concern than 2016.