Saturday, October 3, 2009

What Happened to Patriotism?: Republicans Rooting Against America

Remember when Republicans attempted to corner the market on patriotism? Part of the story behind the name of my blog (the "Patriot" part) was in response to that maddening rhetoric coming from the right implying that to oppose their policies, such as the war in Iraq, was to be unpatriotic, un-American, against our troops.

There are few events that bring out patriotism more than the Olympics. The pride felt watching one's country's athletes marching in the opening ceremony behind the flag, or listening to the national anthem being played and your flag being raised behind a gold-medal winning athlete are special moments to cherish.

The ultimate expression of national pride when it comes to the Olympics? Being able to host the Olympics and show off all that a country has to offer to billions around the world. Just imagine how the Chinese felt during the spectacular Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies.

This is universal, right? Or is it? One of America's great cities, Chicago, was in the running to host the Summer Olympics in 2016. Hosting the Olympics is not just a matter of pride, it is a matter of economics. Hosting the Olympics means investing capital into a region, and it means a huge influx of people from around the world spending money in the region and, one would presume, beyond if they choose to travel more of the country while they are here.

And yet, the Republicans have shown their true colors by rooting against America for the honor of hosting the 2016 Summer Olympics. They criticized President Obama, who is from Chicago, from taking a less-than-24 hour trip to Copenhagen to personally appeal to the IOC voters. They have had the audacity to trash Chicago and say that it SHOULDN'T host the Olympics. Can you imagine? And when Chicago lost out to Rio de Janeiro, they celebrated with cheers and gleeful headlines touting this outcome as an Obama failure.

I am absolutely appalled and disgusted with this Republicans over this, and I hope every proud, patriotic American is as well. It so clearly demonstrated that for the Republicans, party politics comes first way ahead of the country they insist they love.

I guess they only love it when they are in charge.

4 comments:

ElisaC said...

Wow. I have not really been following this too closely. It sounds gross. Can you provide any links to the people who are so anti-Chicago and anti-the US hosting another Olympics?

Thanks for highlighting this, see how much I learn from blogs? :)

Laura said...

hmmmm Read one tweet form anti-chicago supporter that read "been waiting for this since last Nov. no we can't, no we can't" crazy world-I'm from Alaska & a pro-Obama supporter and we got death threats for 16x8 foot Obama sign on our property, from "good christian folks"

Cristina said...

Sam Stein at Huffington Post has a great compilation: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/02/conservatives-revel-in-ob_n_307794.html

And just check out Michelle Malkin's blog. Apparently she was on Fox trashing Chicago big-time.

Cristina said...

Laura, that is so sad. I also have a friend in North Carolina who was afraid to put up any Obama signs. Again, how can you be a proud, patriotic American and act that way over what is the basis of our democracy -- voting for the candidate of your choice?