Op-Ed: Why were the 2016 Olympic Games Obama's No. 1 priority?

Should President Obama have focused on more important issues than winning the 2016 Olympics for Chicago? The city lost the bid today, and less than half of the city's residents supported the games being held in Chicago.

Obama has only found the time to speak Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of our Afghan forces, one time in 70 days but he has found the time to hop a plane and fly to Denmark to try and get the Olympic games brought to Chicago in 2016. It was recently reported Chicago lost the bid to host the 2016 Olympics. The President has yet to answer the General's August 30th request for more troops, since which time 43 brave Americans in uniform have given their lives. On the surface, it would appear that securing the games for his home town is more important to the President than winning the war on terror or keeping the respect and trust of our Arab allies. If Obama is supposed to be our first "green" President and our first "techy" President, why not stump for Chicago via teleconference, saving time, money and leaving a much smaller carbon footprint? The Associated Press reports the president and his wife "put their capital behind an enormous campaign to win the Olympics bid." It was the first time a U.S. president offered such an in-person appeal.