Don't blame it on Obama, America!!

No surprise. Despite President Obama making a personal appearance to speak at the IOC, America lost her bid to host the 2016 Olympics.

No surprise. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil won.

No surprise -- except perhaps for Americans, Democrats or Republicans -- Chicago was first to be eliminated ; followed by Tokyo; followed by Madrid.

(No surprise. The news was already twittering around the globe even before it appeared on CNN, BBC or any other major world news channels.)

No, no, no, no.... Americans might live in a world in which "Celebrity is the name of the Games", as suggested by the title of this Washington Post report. Americans might be accustomed to putting on big events and became good at it, as expressed by Obama in his speech to the IOC membership. Unfortunately, or fortunately, this is not how the score of the games is taken. Bring all the celebrities to the world stage; this time it wouldn't have made a difference.

The world has changed. (Americans had better come to terms with it.) The 21st Century has finally arrived, ushered in (belatedly) by momentous events one after another in the year 2008: the fall of Lehman Brothers and with it the near-meltdown of the world economy, the ignominious conclusion of the Bush Administration and the total defeat of the Republicans in the U.S. Presidential Election that followed, and the Beijing Olympics; to name a few.

As a result, not only are the rules of the games changed; we might well be watching totally different games altogether.

related resources in Concept Map

related posts:

Sept. 24, 2009 The Unraveling continues....
Sept. 16, 2009 蝴蝶效應：How the world has changed!!
Sept. 8, 2009 Whither American Way of Life!?
May 4, 2009 香港新論述，新角色