Politics 2000

President Obama said he’ll travel to Copenhagen, Denmark Thursday in advance of the International Olympic Committee meeting Friday that will determine the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics. First Lady Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey were originally going to head the U.S. delegation that will try to convince IOC members to choose Chicago.

Chicago is one of four finalists. The others are Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo. Rio was considered an early favorite because the Olympics have never been held in Central or South America. There is concern that Rio will not be able to put together the needed facilities.

Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Games. It is the only finalist city to have ever hosted the Olympics. However, Beijing hosted the 2008 Games and the IOC likes to rotate among continents.

Madrid is gaining momentum. Although the Spanish capital has never been an Olympic host, Barcelona hosted the 1992 Games. When combined with Athens (2004) and London (2012), Madrid 2016 would mark three of four Summer Games in Europe. Again, the IOC would rather rotate more frequently.

There hasn’t been a dearth of Olympic competition in North America either. The most recent host cities are Atlanta (1996), Salt Lake City (2002) and Vancouver (2010) although the latter two are for Winter Games. Frankly, add Australia to the mix for the Summer Games once a generation or so and the list of willing and able hosts is nearly complete.

Hosting an Olympic Games is time-consuming and expensive. There are security risks. There are public relations risks. There aren’t a lot of countries ready to do what’s required. It’s not a surprise that four Winter Olympic Games hosts in a row will set a record for largest-ever host: Salt Lake City, Torino, Vancouver, Sochi.

IOC members expect to see heads of government gladhanding them this week. British Prime Minister Tony Blair outmanuevered French President Jacques Chirac four years ago and London–not Paris–will be the first-ever three-time host. Russian President Vladimir Putin was a master showman two years ago and finagled the 2014 Games away from the South Koreans who’d been promised an electoral majority.

President Obama is considered the best in the world today at gladhanding. Here’s a chance to show it. The IOC would feel disrespected if he didn’t come. Therefore, Chicago would have no chance to win.

There will be a vote Friday after some presentations and a lot of discussion. Probably three votes in total. Assuming no city has a majority after the first round, the lowest vote-getter will be eliminated. The last three cities will run off. Expect no majority so the lowest vote-getter to be dropped again. From there, a final vote between the remaining two cities will determine the 2016 host site.

Angela Merkel won a second term as Germany’s chancellor following a solid election victory Sunday. Merkel’s Christian Democrats–when combined with the pro-business Free Democrats–will have a working majority coalition.

The conservative Christian Democrats and their sister party, the Christian Social Union, garnered 34 percent of the vote. Turnout was a record-low 73 percent. The main opposition, the liberal Social Democrats received 23 percent. The Social Democrats had 34 percent at the last election in 2005. The 11-percent drop is a record since World War II. The Left Party got 12 percent and the Greens totaled 11 percent.

The Free Democrats had a record-high 15 percent of the vote. Their strength will enable Merkel to form a coalition with the more politically compatible FDP. The chancellor said she’d do so soon. Even so, Merkel cautioned that she wants to be chancellor for all Germans and won’t let the FDP dictate policy. In particular, the FDP wants to completely restructure the tax system. The CDP only advocates minor alterations.

The SDP had led the government from 2002 to 2005 and were in the governing coalition with the CDP the past four years. The SDP needs to regroup after a humbling loss. Then again, the CDP shouldn’t be too thrilled. In addition to the poor turnout, the two largest parties only tallied 57 percent of the vote combined. That’s a record low.

Paul Kirk was sworn into the U.S. Senate Friday. He’ll replace his friend and former employer, the late Sen. Edward Kennedy.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick appointed Kirk yesterday after invoking emergency powers. Rather than wait 90 days for the recently-changed law regarding appointments to take effect, Patrick made the controversial move to name Kirk immediately.

State Republicans are angry because the Democratic legislative majority reversed the law it passed in 2004. In a nutshell, Democrats wanted to ensure then-Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, couldn’t fill a Senate vacancy but now that a Democrat is in charge, the party doesn’t want to wait for a special election.

There will be a special election in January. Kirk, age 71, won’t be a candidate. He’ll serve about 130 days. He’ll then have lifetime access to the Senate floor. That’s great for Kirk, who’s been a lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry.

Liberals aren’t happy either. They wanted former Gov. Michael Dukakis to be appointed. Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic Party nominee for president, isn’t closely aligned to the Kennedy family. There is concern the late senator, his family and President Obama had too much influence on Patrick to appoint Kirk at the expense of state voters.

Now that Kirk has been sworn, the Democrats have 60 working votes again (counting two independents). They’ll be able to invoke cloture and break Republican filibusters. In particular, they’ll be able to pass a health-care bill without GOP votes should they choose to do so.