Michelle Obama thinks Chicago should get the Olympics because it will help stem the American problem with childhood obesity and inspire the poor people to greatness. As she said in her Copenhagen speech yesterday:
When we're seeing rates of childhood obesity increase, it is so important for us to raise up the platform of fitness and competition and fair play; to teach kids to cheer on the victors and empathize with those in defeat, but most importantly, to recognize that all the hard work that is required to do something special. ...
And I just think, wouldn't it be great if that kind of spirit was happening right down the street in our community? Just think of that. Kids and communities across the city, in Austin, kids who grew up in Cabrini, kids who live so far from the city. Now just imagine if all of that was happening right in their own backyard. That's what I think about.
It does something to a kid when they can feel that energy and power up close and personal. And for some kids in our communities and our city, around the nation, around the world, they can never dream of being that close to such power and opportunity. So that's what excites me most about bringing the Games to Chicago—the impact that it can have on the lives of our young people, and on our entire community.
Oh, really? In America, the problem is that we haven't sufficiently exposed the kids to sports?
Back to the drawing board, Michelle. I can see how people lie lustily and playfully, but to spout such dismal falsehoods as this stuff with a straight face ... it's draining just to think about it.
Oh . . . . Oh . . . . we agree on something. Oh . . . . oh . . . and it's something to do with someone named Obama . . .oh . . . oh.
Posted by: Steve C. | October 01, 2009 at 01:59 PM
Interestingly, I was a fat kid. Still am. Liked to watch sports long ago, hated participating. Don't like sports at all now, partly because they've been tainted by greed, greed, and more greed, and by narcissistic athletes. Not enough class acts like Ryne Sandberg -- remember him and his HOF acceptance speech?
My aspirations have all been of a slightly more intellectual bent. Someone should let Michelle know not everyone's into sports, and sports don't inspire everyone. And wouldn't it be nice if there were some way to inspire kids to pursue careers useful to the greater world, maybe things like engineering, medical research, and poetry? Okay, I jest about the last, just because I like it.
Posted by: Diane | October 01, 2009 at 05:09 PM
When do the lives of old people like me start to count? Just curious.
Posted by: Diane | October 01, 2009 at 05:10 PM
To your last, good point. The right wingers care about life only up until birth. And the left-wingers care about life only until the end of childhood.
This reporting--"350 people were killed, 12 of them children"--has always struck me as equally silly as if they'd said, "350 killed, 200 of them wearing wristwatches."
KIDS ARE NOT MORE PRECIOUS THAN GROWNUPS; they're just cuter.
Posted by: David Murray | October 01, 2009 at 05:15 PM
So poor kids won't be fat or poor if they're exposed to the Olympics? And here I thought your rant on "right" was silly.
I was the parent of a kid who really WAS inspired by an Olympic sport: gymnastics. It didn't matter that my kid was 5'9" tall and built like a muscled little tank. She loved gymnastics, and worked as hard as she could to do well. Trouble is, she didn't have the body for gymnastics and never will. She actually had to learn completely different dismounts from the balance beam, for example, because her body was too long to fit the whole dismount routine on the beam. She just ran out of room.
And then there was MY end of it: the parent trying to figure out how to pay for all that gymnastics stuff, the meets, the travel, the fees. It was endless. I literally went into debt to pay for it all as a single parent who didn't make enough money to afford athletics and piano lessons and art lessons and all the other things I thought were important enough to go into debt for.
I had the luxury of being able to take on the debt, in that I had access to some credit.
I think back on my own childhood, which was spent in pretty extreme poverty. What if it had been me who longed with all my heart to try and be a gymnast? You know what? It would have ended with the longing, because there's no way my parents could ever, ever have afforded it.
How will seeing the Olympics up close and personal affect a kid who already longs with her whole heart to be that kind of athlete but lives in the projects? For that matter, she won't see the Olympics up close and personal, will she? She'll see it on TV, like the rest of us, because the closest she'll get is a blocked off street where all the construction preparatory to the big event is taking place. With any luck, maybe one of her brothers or a parent might get some work out of the construction. But truly, how likely is even that to happen?
I'd rather hear a silly rant on "right" than this one. At least yours, David, was grounded in reality.
Posted by: Joan H. | October 01, 2009 at 06:49 PM