If you aren't Canadian, you can't even begin to imagine what the Vancouver Winter Games mean to the country. A nation not yet 150 years old, with less than forty as something other than a relic of the British empire, Canada has struggled hard to create a sense of nationality among its citizens. A tough job all by itself, but complicated by the devil of two national languages, strong regional cultures and the most powerful nation in history lying just across its southern border.
The Canadian strategy has been to promote national institutions (hockey, beer) and create some from whole cloth (the CBC, uniform port-of-entry design and 'corporate' signage), and vigorously resist American imperialism by rejecting notions like 'free speech', property rights and being able to choose your own doctor.
The majority of this either isn't working, or working in a frighteningly 'gulag' kind of way. The hockey and beer is a real winner though. Consensus from sea-to-sea.
Its easy to see why Canadians had big expectations of the Olympics. If you not Canadian, the name Nancy Greene won't mean a thing to you. If you are, its a no-brainer. In Canada, Nancy is an institution, currently serving as a Senator in the Canadian version of the House of Lords. What's the big deal about Nancy Greene?
She won gold and silver medals at the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble. Canadians have been basking in that glory for 40 years! No doubt that seems odd to Americans who forget about their Olympic athletes within weeks of the closing ceremony, and have to be reminded every four years of who they are. OK--we are starting to see some exceptions--Apolo Ohno and Shaun White seemed to have crossed over into legitimate American celebrity status.
So you might be able to understand how deeply embarrassing all the screw-ups at the Vancouver games have been.
Seven years to prepare, so much on the line for Canada as a nation, an open check book and the Winter Olympics looks like Microsoft's Vista operating system. Its not that they didn't want to succeed, its just a damn tough job to bring off such a complex enterprise.
Maybe now you can get a glimmer about why Mitt Romney is so overwhelming popular in the Intermountain West. Its not the Mormon thing, its the Olympic thing.
Romney came into a demoralizing and nearly impossible situation. Olympic sponsors were jumping ship on a daily basis as SLOC organizers lawyered up to defend against charges of bribery. He had about two years to pull it all together or Salt Lake City, which had been lobbying for the games for over thirty years, would join Denver on the permanent blacklist of cities that would never, ever get the Winter Olympics.
The result was, as IOC officials described it, the smoothest Olympics ever held, and Vancouver is unfortunately being compared to it rather unfavorably. Sadly perhaps, the comparison is going to be used to make a case for a Salt Lake City 2022 Winter Olympics.
Did I say that Romney turned over a check for $100,000,000.00 when the SLC 2002 Olympics were over and done with? Yeah--the guy made a proft.
Its a big mess over there in Washington D.C., and Romney has kind of a good resume when it comes to cleaning up big messes. Sarah Palin is a doll, and you can vote for her if you want to, but I think its pretty clear whose skill set we really need.
Don't worry about the Canadians--if they win Hockey gold, it will all be good...
