It’s Not About You

How desperate do you need to be for a victory that you celebrate Chicago’s failure to get the 2016 Olympic Games?

Truly, what I find most striking about the fist-pumping and high-fives and general elation from conservatives over Chicago’s ouster in the first round of voting is that it’s happening at all.

“Enjoy this -- savor this moment,” said Glenn Beck on his radio show.

Gloated Rush Limbaugh, “For those of you on the other side of the aisle listening in who are upset that I sound gleeful -- I am. I don't deny it. I'm happy.”

The news was met with cheers at The Weekly Standard newsroom.

So apparently after an entire summer of astroturfed Town Hollers and a march on Washington D.C. that drew a quadruple gazillion trillion protesters (or thereabouts), conservatives' best political victory is Chicago not getting the Olympics.

This just speaks volumes about the irrelevance of American conservatives. Think about it: after the millions of dollars spent to derail the economic stimulus, healthcare reform and cap-and-trade; after all of the bandwidth devoted to spreading crackpot “birther” theories, FEMA detention camp scams, and fearmongering about socialist indoctrination; after the stacks of Tea Party signs warning of Socialism and Fascism and "Oligarhy”; after literally months of this bullshit, their big victory is something they had absolutely nothing to do with.

What does that tell you?

Let me give my conservative friends a little reality check: American politics does not, in fact, occupy the rest of the world’s attention 24/7. Our Democrat v. Republican hissy fits do not, in fact, drive decisions made by international bodies like the IOC. Not every decision has to do with America, and not every decision that affects America has a poltical component. In short, it's not always about us, and it's not always about you.

Try as you might to make the decision a statement about the world rejecting Obama, that makes about as much sense as saying it’s the world rejecting AT&T, Bank of America, Archer Daniels Midland, Kraft Foods, Boeing, or any of the dozens of other U.S. corporations which donated megabucks to the Chicago 2016 effort. Not everything is political and not everything is partisan.

The fact that you’ve failed to grasp that is truly pathetic.