You have to wonder why the Obamas and Oprah Winfrey thought they could win in Copenhagen. At stake -- the site of the next Olympic games. In a contest between four cities, Chicago finished dead last. The Obamas' and Oprah's magic did not seem to do the trick. In fact, it had been rumored before the Obama-Oprah act, that the US was in second place, just behind Rio (the eventual winner). But, lo and behold, Madrid and even Tokyo bested the US. If you read the Obama presentation carefully, there wasn't much there about Chicago, other than it's relationship to the Obama family. Perhaps hearing about the Obama family just wasn't enough to put the city of Chicago (whose other traits went largely unmentioned by the Obamas) over the top.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in the US, predicted by the Obama Administration to go no higher than 8.0 percent at the time of the signing of the infamous stimulus package, inched ever closer to the double digit mark. The reading was 9.8 percent -- the highest unemployment rate since 1983. So much for the job creation effectiveness of the $ 800 billion Obama stimulus plan. Economists are revising their unemployment predictions upward and their economic growth forecasts downward. It's not surprising that the Obamas preferred to be out of the country.
The only good news is that the Obama Administration is no longer talking of a second stimulus plan. What the economy needs is for the Obamas to get back on Air Force One and go back to Copenhagen and stay there for a few weeks. Let the health care bills and card check and cap-and-trade die a quiet unmolested death and give the economy a chance. It's only a dream, but sometimes you have to dream.
