President Obama's Olympic Trip Gets A bronze medal

I was reading articles from Foxnews.com as I do on a normal basis. And to my chagrin I find a piece of gold in the form of an opinion piece titled "5 Reasons the President should not go to Denmark" from Bradley Blakeman, whom was President George W. Bush's Deputy Assistant. Blakeman describes reasons why the presidents trip to Denmark is a waste of time, money and effort.

Blakeman spent 4 years as President Bush's Deputy Assistant, whose main job was to schedule the president's daily affairs and determine who would see him and who would not. Blakeman describes what factors he used to make the choices of who saw the president and for how long they got to see him. Blakeman is obviously qualified to speak on how the president has his time divied up for everyone.

I must say that I agree with Blakeman on many of his points. He speaks of how the President has reduced himself to a "Pitchman", which in my opinion is true. Why does President Obama feel the need to try and influence the olympic committee? Blakeman points out that the president is a busy man and his greatest assets is time and credibility. He also points out that the president should have sent other representatives to Denmark. Why? Because we are in the middle of numerous crisis's. Do I feel the same way? Yes I do. To be honest, who cares about the olympics in 2016. If we cant get out of this recession, who will be able to afford to go to the "Chicago Olympics" if we do get selected? Who will be able to buy food, trinkits, clothing or any number of foolish purchases? Not us. Who will pay for all of the construction? Taxpayers. And on the same note of money, I am sure it was not cheap to pay for the president to get to Denmark. Lets see, Air Force One and the back-up, fuel, secret service personnel, military personnel, food, overtime pay and any other number of wasted money. But who cares, we will add it to the national debt tab.

Blakeman also talks about how precious the Presidents time is. After all Obama is leader of the greatest nation on earth. Sure glad Obama has so much free time to worry about bringing the olympics to Chicago. I feel that Blakeman is making a good point by getting us to really think about how Obama's priorities are askew.

Blakeman states how he used the 5 prong approach he had when he would schedule people to see President Bush when he was in office. 1. Time, 2. is he the right person for the job, 3. Timing of trip, 4.vision of prestige, 5. advancing the presidents goals. Blakeman goes through each of these 5 prongs showing how Obama's lack of understanding his role as president and the use of his office.

I must admit that I am a bit biased due to the fact I am a Republican and did not vote for Obama, but if McCain had become president, I doubt he would have gone to Denmark, and if he had I would not have agreed wtih it. I'n not saying anyone is perfect, but I agree with Blakeman, this trip was a waste of time, money and prestige.



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