Daley & Oprah's Drunk On Power Move: Blame It On Olympic Lust
CONSPIRACY THEORY ALERT
Daley & Oprah's Drunk On Power Move: Blame It On Olympic Lust
IT COULD BE ME, BUT DOESN'T 24 YEARS SEEM AN ODD NUMBER TO GO GANGBUSTERS OVER?
Doesn't 25 make more sense? To shut down a third of a mile on one of Chicago's main downtown traffic arteries? For nearly three full days? For Oprah to throw her season opener?
On the heels of a political debacle caused by Mayor Richie Rich selling the city's parking meters to a private company that quadrupled rates and issued tickets upon receiving the keys to the city?
Unless perhaps year 25 was being reserved for something even bigger, like a going away party?
But it would make sense if there was some sort of deadline looming, wouldn't it?
Put it in context of the date -- a month before the International Olympics Committee votes on which city will host the 2016 Olympics, and the timing makes sense. 
According to GameBids.com, IOC members will make that decision on October 2nd in Copenhagen.
Think of Oprah's party as an additional primer on Chicago for the IOC, which is set to release today its evaluation report on the bidding cities: Tokyo, Madrid, Rio de Janiero and Chicago. Another chance to show off to the world the people passion in this gleaming city of steel.
Because as Hartmut Zastrow, executive director of Sport+Markt told GameBids.com, "The population's passion for a sports event is the key to success."
And what better way to manipulate people passion than to put on a talk show in the city's center and invite a free-for-all.
Oh, yes, this will sway the world, bury the news that Forbes just designated Chi-Town America's "Most Stressful City" for the second year in a row.
"Crowding, poor air quality, a high 11 percent unemployment rate and free-falling home values have created a cocktail of constant worry affecting many in the Windy City,'' says Forbes.
Daley's thug approach to governing only adds to residents' stress, the sale of the city parking meters case in point. And already there's the malodorous smell of corruption surrounding land grabs for the proposed 2016 Summer Olympics. The fear of corruption and incompetence even led Chicago activists to make an unprecedented trip to Switzerland to lobby against the city. "We love the Olympics but Chicago can't handle it," activist Rhoda Whitehorse, a retired public school teacher, told the media.
We wonder how many of the people who flock downtown for the "free" party might ultimately be forced from their homes if the city wins its bid for the games.
The comments in the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times are targeting Oprah's outsized ego for the predicted paralysis in downtown Chicago. But we're betting that the real mind behind this masterplan is Daley, who's lusting badly after the Olympics. And Oprah, being a player, won't look a gifthorse in the mouth.
And if the past is prologue, then the IOC will be dazzled by O's show and completely overlook signs that even the city's activists and newspapers don't think it's worthy.
Sun-Times' columnist Rick Telander said it best:
"The City of Chicago, led by Mayor Daley and a vast and tumorous army of aldermen and bagmen and yesmen and opportunists and spineless, parasitic political-machine halfwits of forms never seen outside the roiling cesspool of governmental slop-trough greed, has proven itself unworthy of something as potentially delicious and fulfilling as the 2016 Olympic Games.
