Presidents, Olympics, and Picasso Sculptures

The President of the United States, the Prime Minister of Japan, the President of Brazil, and the King of Spain will all be at a meeting in Copenhagen tomorrow. But then their wives will all be there too, as will Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago and Oprah Winfrey. Man, they've brought out the big guns this time. What major world event is being brokered in Scandinavia? The Olympics for 2016, that's what.

It seems that the finalists for the 2016 Olympics are Chicago, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, and Madrid. Seems like there were just recently in Spain and well who knows why, but Tokyo is kind of on the back burner in this one. The smart money is on either Chicago or Rio. Now I'm a little bit prejudiced in this matter, but I have to think that Chicago is getting the Olympics. By this time tomorrow I'll either be telling everyone I told you so, or I'll be telling everyone it was rigged.

Why would they go to Rio? Rio just had to cancel a World Cup Swimming Event because they couldn't come up with the cash to fund it. Every other day, I read something about crime in Rio. Brazil has come a long way economically, but they still have a small number of people with money and a whole lot of people in poverty. Then there is the pollution. Maybe if we could get the Brazilians to stop cutting down the Amazon Rainforest, it might be worth it to give them the games. Is that going to happen. Did I mention that it was in Brazil where a rancher killed a nun who dared to protest his cutting down of yet more rainforest?

Truthfully, there are some in Chicago who do not want the Olympics here. Just yesterday several protesters were arrested in a confrontation with the police at Daley Plaza. It seems that the promoters of the Olympics in Chicago had arranged for a huge Olympic medal to be hung around the neck of the 50 foot high Picasso sculpture in Daley Plaza. This sort of thing is a tradition here. Pictures of the Picasso with the big medal can be found in the Chicago Tribune, along with pictures of the same sculpture wearing Cubs hats, Sox hats, Bears hats, and assorted other indignities. As I recall, the lions in front of the Art Institute sported Chicago Bears helmets in honor of the Bears going to the Super Bowl in January 1986. Somebody stole the helmets, but they magically reappeared a couple of days later.

Anyway, several youths who looked like escapees from a G-20 protest were arrested while protesting the Chicago Olympics bid and trying to pull down the big medal from the Picasso. Maybe they were just mad that they couldn't make it to Pittsburgh to yell at the high level finance guys from all the biggest economies in the world and had to settle for this. At least one of them was chased down by one of those cops who patrol on bicycles. They were all charged with criminal damage to public property, blah, blah, blah.

At any rate, sending President Obama to Copenhagen has to play well. There are a lot of people in this country who seem to hate his guts. Some of them stand up during sessions of Congress and yell, "You lie!" Some of them post stupid things on Facebook like polls asking if people think he should be assassinated. It's amazing to me that after 8 years of George W. Bush, and his cadre of numbskulls who attempted to sell the entire country and all of its holdings to corporate America, that when we finally got an intelligent, competent, caring man who surrounds himself with other intelligent, competent, caring advisors, there are people in this country who think he is the worst thing to ever happen to the country. Meanwhile, most of the rest of the world is so damned relieved to have gotten rid of Bush and company and to have gotten a thoughtful, caring leader of the U.S., they are gushing their adoration. If anybody can sell the idea of an Olympics in Chicago, he's the man. In Washington, he has many enemies. In Copenhagen, they think he's just the cat's meow.

Did I mention that I have a 2 bedroom condo in downtown Chicago that just may be for rent in the summer of 2016? Go Chicago. Reasonable rates. Avoid the rush. Make your reservation now. Oh, and I really would like to see the Olympics in my lifetime. Chicago is a lovely city, really it is.