Wait, I Thought "The World" Would Love Us Now!

I posted on Wednesday that the Obama administration must have gotten a tip that Chicago would win the Olympics -- why else would the President change his mind and go racing across the world to beg the IOC for the Games, thereby risking the kind of embarrassment that has now occurred? (And with all that, the US wasn't even a finalist!).

Obviously I was wrong in my Wednesday prediction. Perhaps the President's friendships with people who stood to gain from a Chicago Olympics was the real motivation for the unprecedented presidential supplication.

But I think what's really going on was this: There's a narcissism issue in the Obama White House. They really thought that the Obama charm and charisma -- double-dosed with both the President and the First Lady appearing -- would be all it took to change longstanding world jealousies and rivalries and secure them whatever prize they wanted.

Correction: The issue is one of both narcissism and naivete. Just ask the Iranians. They aren't being swayed by the Obama charisma, either.