With marathon finished, Obama eyes 2016 Olympics
DALEY PLAZA | Obama tells a boisterous -- and perhaps largely 'invited' -- crowd that 2016 Games would be highlight of 2nd term
He called his book the Audacity of Hope.
On Friday, Sen. Barack Obama was just audacious, telling a Loop rally that he was looking forward to ''wrapping up my second term as president'' by opening the 2016 Olympic Games in Chicago.
(AP)
(Keith Hale/Sun-Times)
At a Daley Center Plaza event to mark the city's being named a finalist to host the games, Obama noted that his home is only a few blocks from the site of the proposed Olympic Stadium in Washington Park.
"In the interest of full disclosure, I have to let you know that in 2016, I'll be wrapping up my second term as president. So I can't think of a better way than to be marching into Washington Park alongside Mayor Daley . . . as president of the United States and announcing to the world, 'Let the games begin,' '' Obama said.
On a day a CNN poll showed him leading challenger Sen. John McCain 47 percent to 43 percent, he also compared himself to the first place White Sox and Cubs.
"Your senator, he's winning, too," Obama said, sparking wild cheers from a crowd that filled much of Daley Center Plaza.
Obama said his stop at the rally was a last-minute decision. Back home to rest after a tough nomination fight, he has no appearances on his schedule this weekend.
Joining Daley and other dignitaries, including Olympic gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Obama said an Olympics here would be "a capstone of the success we've had over the last couple of decades in transforming Chicago into not just becoming a great American city but a great world city.''
Daley called the other finalists Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro "tough competition,'' but added, "What we have here is a spirit.''
The crowd included a number of government workers; one city employee said her department was "invited" to the rally by supervisors who "wanted a good crowd.''
Dianne McCollough, a lawyer with the Cook County State's Attorney's office, said she came on her own accord. An Olympics here would "show the world something positive about Chicago,'' she said.
"So much [news coverage is of] violence and CTA trains derailing,'' McCollough said. An Olympics "shows people at their best,'' she added.
In Athens on Friday, International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said heads of state will be allowed to help candidate cities make their final pitch. Obama filmed a greeting for Chicago's Olympic team in the early stages of the bid but called on President Bush to consider boycotting the opening ceremonies in Beijing in protest over Tibet.
McCain's campaign did not respond to requests for comment on a Chicago Olympics. In 2000, he criticized public funding for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, saying "the American taxpayer is being shaken down."