Today In No Kidding: Obama Confirms Copenhagen Trip

2009_09_24_obamaoly.jpg
AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

This morning, the Obama administration confirmed what was reported last week and what we all knew, deep-down, was going to happen: Obama will make an appearance in Copenhagen ahead of the IOC vote for the 2016 Olympics. Every media outlet is reporting this morning on Obama's trip - and if you're expressing surprise at this announcement, let me know because I've got some magic beans to sell you - and it appears as if the trip will be a quick one. Obama will leave Thursday evening to arrive in Copenhagen just ahead of Friday's final bid presentation (Friday morning in Denmark) and be back Friday afternoon D.C. time. Mayor Daley left bright and early this morning for Denmark where some members of the Chicago 2016 team have been since last week.

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Also good. It's nice to see some of the most important people in the world come out to support my home town. :D

Will he be taking the lightsaber to Copenhagen as well?

Hey Mr. Obama thanks for shitting all over the folks on the south side who will lose their homes and neighborhoods and filling the pockets of Daley and his cronies with billions of nigh untraceable Olympic dollars.

But hey, give us another speech about all the things you're gonna do to make us feel better about the things you haven't done.

I'm thinking my friends who voted for you are thinking of John Lydon's last words as a Sex Pistol "You ever get the feeling you been cheated?"


What is he supposed to do then? Like it or not, as the President, he's painted into a corner on this. He has to be supportive of the bid, regardless of what he actually thinks.

Yeah, we don't want the president doing what he thinks is right.

He could send Michelle and claim he's busy, y'know, not fixing health care or something.

He's a African-American who ran on his experience as a community organizer supporting a plan that will devastate many African-American communities.

It would be funny if it wasn't sad.

I wrote a letter to the White House regarding my distaste for him going to Copenhagen and how there are a majority of people in Chicago who don't want the Olympics when we have other pressing problems such as health care, etc.
Below is the response.
I don't know why I even bother writing letters to congressmen and politicians:

Dear Friend:

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. I have heard
from countless Americans struggling to afford health insurance and
health professionals striving to provide care. I appreciate your
perspective.

There is broad consensus among the American people on
the need for affordable, high-quality health care. The rising cost of
health care is the most pressing financial challenge for families and
for our Nation, and controlling this cost is essential to bringing
down the Federal deficits we inherited. We must end unfair
insurance practices that leave millions of Americans without
coverage, denying them access to care, and exposing them to
extraordinary burdens. And we should ensure that all small
business employees have access to affordable, high-quality health
plans so that we can make our economy--and our small businesses-
-more competitive. Now is the time to move forward, and I am
working to get health insurance reform done this year.

Since I took office, we have done more to improve health
care than we have in the previous decade. In February, I signed
H.R. 2 to provide coverage for millions of children through the
Children's Health Insurance Program, and I signed the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act to make key investments in
computerized medical records and preventive services.

Still, more must be done to lower costs, expand coverage,
and improve the quality of health care. My 2010 Budget makes a
major down payment on health insurance reform by implementing
efficiencies in government health care spending while improving
the quality of care. To help fulfill the debt we owe to our service
men and women, it includes the largest proposed single-year
increase in veterans funding in 30 years. It expands health care
coverage to an additional 500,000 veterans by 2013, implements
technology that eases the transition from military care to veterans'
care, and enhances screening and treatment services for those
suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic
Brain Injury.

Looking forward, there are tough choices to be made, and I
will seek to bring employers and workers, health care providers
and patients, and Democrats and Republicans together to create a
system that delivers better care and puts the Nation on a
sustainable, long-term fiscal path. To learn more about my agenda
or to share a personal story, please join me online at:
www.healthreform.gov. For further information on health care and
assistance that may be available to you, you may call 1-800-
FEDINFO or visit: www.usa.gov.

I share the sense of urgency that millions of Americans have
voiced. I watched as my ailing mother struggled with stacks of
insurance forms in the last moments of her life. This is not who
we are as a Nation; together, we will fix it.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

Did you write an e-mail or a letter?

Oddly, I get real responses from actual letters to my representatives all the time. Got one from Obama when he was a Senator, another from Durbin, even one from Paul Simon I wrote in grade school. All real letters actually addressing the topics I wrote about, all signed and everything.

If you haven't already, try writing you rep or senator a hard copy letter. You might be surprised.

I sent an email.
I was thinking about sending a hard copy. And I can't use the excuse that I'm too busy if I'm tooling around Chicagoist all day writing comments.
I've sent emails to Durbin as well and got the same canned responses.
Time to step up my game I guess.

My brother emailed Obama while he was a Senator regarding some environmental issues and got an actual, personal response back. In fact, the reply was quite lengthy and well articulated.

So does this mean that we now have single payer over a public option health plan? I mean our President did say, that he would only go to
Copenhagen based on our ability to pass universal heathcare.

But I guess Daley's whims and desires are more important than healthcare.

Does he know they hand out medals at the Olympics? After all his "no nation is better than another" shtick at the UN, I wouldn't think he be supportive of such a blatant display of national competitiveness.

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