Obama and Clinton Know Best
I have never liked the idea of the Olympics being held in China. The Olympics shouldn’t be held in countries that are not democracies and that regularly abuse human rights. But isn’t it a little late for our leaders in the US to start protesting now by thumbing our noses at the Chinese? The Democratic candidates for president think otherwise:
LEVITTOWN, Pa. - Barack Obama joined Democratic presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday in calling for President Bush to boycott the opening ceremonies for the Olympic Games in Beijing.
Clinton had commended British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for announcing that he will skip the August ceremonies in China’s capital, and called on Obama and likely Republican presidential nominee John McCain to join her in urging Bush to do the same.
Obama did later in the day; his campaign issued a statement in which, for the first time, he urged Bush to boycott the festivities.
If President Bush follows their advice, yes it will be an embarrassment for the Chinese government. Furthermore, the public in China will be very offended.
Of course, they say in Asia that a very big mistake is to cause someone to lose face. So if President Bush boycotts the opening ceremonies he will cause the whole of China to lose face. That is not going to cause China to react positively to Western demands for China to improve its human rights record. In fact, it will likely make things worse as the Chinese think “the West be damned”. The Chinese leaders will then have an excuse to run things according to what they say is the unique “Chinese way”.
US leaders should have tried long ago to keep the Olympics out of China. The selection rules for the Olympic body should be changed to only have them in democratic countries. Have them in Japan, or South Korea, or Taiwan - but not China. Have them in Italy or Botswana - but not China. Have them in Iceland or Australia - but not China.
April 10th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Yea maybe they should change the rules so that the US has the last say in who gets the Olympics, just to make sure everyone in the world remembers just who is in charge of the whole world.
The Olympics is supposed to be a celebrated world sporting event. Instead we have made it into a political event. That is sad.
I could care less if our President went or not, but if they don’t go, don’t tell us it is because of some political reason. Tell us it is because you have better things to do then attend a sporting event. In fact maybe, Bush should go and celebrate the Olympics and then have a meeting with the China leaders and tell them that we do not agree with their actions in Tibet and discuss other pertinent issues. This meeting should have nothing to do with the Olympics, they just happen to be going on at the same time.
April 10th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
TerryP,
“Yea maybe they should change the rules so that the US has the last say in who gets the Olympics, just to make sure everyone in the world remembers just who is in charge of the whole world.”
I didn’t say that the US has the final say or even the major voice. I don’t think that the Olympics should be held in places like say North Korea, Germany under Hitler, or the Soviet Union under Stalin. They use the games to showcase their societies, and in a sense the world gives them some legitimacy by selecting them as hosts for the games.
In a major international event of this size, it is very difficult to avoid politics. I think that countries should earn the right to host the games by having a respectable human rights record. So yes, that is political.
I must admit that China is a harder case than say North Korea. The games might prompt China to future reforms. But if you are a political prisoner locked away for years in a Chinese prison, you would likely not be too excited about China hosting the games.
April 10th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Wait a second , the US also uses the games to showcase our society. That is the whole point of hosting them. China is the largest country in the world population wise, yet they are supposed to be left out just because we don’t like how their country is run. If that was the deciding factor, the US would never be able to host an Olympics as much of the world does not like the way the US is run either. I will agree that their human rights record needs vast improvement, but why don’t we let them show what they can do by hosting the Olympics. If they handle human rights poorly before and during the Olympics, they will be looked at very poorly by most other people in the world since the Olympics is so visible. This is the last thing that they want to do. They want to leave a good impression and by handling human rights better on the run-up and during the Olympics will be one major step in leaving a good impression. By not making reforms they could leave a pretty poor lasting impression that will hurt them and their economy for years to come.
And I guess if you are a marujauna user locked up for life as well in the US you wouldn’t be to excited about the US hosting the games either. What does that have to do with anything.
I say, especially with China, I would much rather have an open line of communication with them then start trying to pick fights with them over small things such as hosting the Olympics. They would be far more likely to change the way they are doing things if we give a brighter example of the way things should be done then we are now and talk to them on a more equal basis. They will likely just do the opposite of what we want them to do if we try to force them to make changes. They have the ability to crush our already unstable economy and while it may hurt them too, we have a lot further to fall.
April 12th, 2008 at 9:51 am
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