October 02, 2009

To the Extent I Care at All

I'm rooting for Rio.


UPDATE:  Moved below the fold

Well, Rio won.
Good for them.
Chicago had hosted the games in the 80's and Rio is a beautiful city. Brazil has come a long way and the first Olympics in South America is something they have striven very hard for.Unlike Chicago, the vast majority of the residents seem to want it.
My initial take on this was Chicago actually dodged a bullet, the President had gotten a very good lesson in humility, perspective and strategic intel that cost the US no blood or treasure and a good chuckle was had by all on the political right and by roughly half of the good people of Chicago.
A win win.

CDR Salamander makes a good case that I am utterly wrong and this has deeper and darker implications.  


.........Let us be clear about another thing. We are at war with a culture and mindset that is by and large shame based. In the mind of our enemies our President, and therefore the nation he leads, has lost face in a very public and personal way. This has done huge damage to our short, medium, and long term image in the world - especially amongst our enemies and those who do not wish this nation well.

When the President took off, I thought that it was a done deal. Staff Weenie 101 - you do not set your boss up for failure.
....snip....
I am just gobsmacked at the Strategic damage that has been done to this nation by this absolute epic failure of proper staff support and leadership positioning....

Emphasis mine.
Read the whole thing.
The problems Obama has been having with his staff has been remarked on before by others. If in 9 months these have not been dealt with there may be cause for genuine, completely non-partisan worry.

A good round-up of links to thoughts on this "issue" is here and there is a thoughtful piece here.

UPDATE: Meanwhile...


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