Obama 'our quarterback' for final Olympic pitch: Daley

[jefferson_dem]

Obama 'our quarterback' for final Olympic pitch: Daley
March 29, 2009
BY MARY WISNIEWSKI
Staff Reporter

Fresh from a Denver trip to promote the city’s Olympic bid, Mayor Daley on Saturday declared President Obama “our quarterback” who will help bring the Games to Chicago.

“This is the United States of America, and the person who’s our quarterback is President Barack Obama,” Daley said at a West Side garden show. “He is the one who will go to Copenhagen’’ to present the city’s final pitch to the International Olympic Committee in October.

Daley noted that Russian leader Vladimir Putin pushed successfully to bring the 2014 Winter Games to Sochi, while former British Prime Minister Tony Blair spent three days in Singapore with IOC members to win the 2012 Summer Games for London.

Chicago is competing for the 2016 Olympics against Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Madrid. All three have national government guarantees backing the entire costs of their bids, unlike Chicago.

However, IOC President Jacques Rogge said Friday that Chicago doesn’t necessarily need full government guarantees. He said the bottom line is a strong guarantee and that he is “quite sure Chicago is able to deliver.”

Daley said Rogge’s remarks were encouraging and improve the city’s chances.

Meanwhile, the police union, upset over a lack of progress in contract talks, plans to picket when the IOC visits Chicago on Thursday, Asked about the plan, Daley initially said “it won’t have any effect on us.” But later he called the action “really unfair.”

“The Olympics is bigger than Mayor Daley,” he said. “It’s bigger than the police or fire unions or all the unions. . . . This is about transforming this city.”

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/olympics/1501045,daley-obama-chicago-olympics-032809.article?xid=rss-page#