Kristol Compares Obama’s Olympics Pitch To ‘George W. Bush-Like’ Bullying.
Bill Kristol accuses Obama of George Bush style bullying for travelling to Copenhagen to make the case for Chicago to host the 2016 Olympics.
KRISTOL: Our economy doesn’t need the boost of the Olympics. And then an American president in sort of a George W. Bush-like way goes and tries to bully the International Olympic Committee.Let's leave aside the fact that we all know that the offices of The Weekly Standard - where Kristol is editor - "erupted in cheers" when news came through that Chicago had been unsuccessful in it's bid to host the Olympics; but the real news here is that Kristol - for the very first time that I am aware of - has suddenly caught on to the fact that the Bush administration engaged in bullying. This has obviously only occurred to Kristol once Bush left office, it certainly wasn't something which troubled him at the time as he was one of the administrations greatest defenders.
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Come walk with us. I’m here for America. Can you imagine if some Republican — if Bush had done this and we hadn’t gotten it? Typical Bush heavy-handedness, cowboy unilateralist, hegemonic imperialist action. Obama falls into that trap and they went for it. I must say you couldn’t help be amused by it.
Secondly, it is traditional for the leaders of the countries who make the final for the Olympic bid to turn up and make their pitch selling their nation, Obama was certainly breaking no new ground in doing so. I mean, the leaders of Brazil, Spain, and Japan were also in attendance. Were these other leaders also "bullying" for their own nations?
Indeed, had Obama not attended, I can well imagine Kristol and others on the right blaming Obama's non attendance for Chicago's loss. These guys really want to have it both ways.
Hat tip to Think Progress.
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