Chicago Loses Olympics Bid; Full Plate President: Taking on too Much at Once
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. No matter what side of the aisle you're on politically, one thing that everyone pretty much agrees on is the president has certainly got a lot on his plate. So in the spirit of true Monday-morning quarterbacking, seeing as how it's Monday morning, we're asking did the president waste valuable team and political capital in his quest to win Chicago the 2016 Olympics, especially when the city got knocked out in the first round or was it a prudent thing for the president to do? Let's get some perspective from former communications director of the Democratic National Committee Karen Finney, also Republican strategist and CNN contributor Ed Rollins here with us. Good morning to both of you. So if history is any guide, you don't pull out your big gun, Karen, unless you're reasonably assured of success here. so was it the right thing for the president to go to Copenhagen and lobby for Chicago considering how badly it did in the voting?</s>KAREN FINNEY, FORMER DNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Politically speaking it was a risky decision. And I think there are -- there's a lot of questions about, you know, was that the right decision now that we know knocked out in the first round? That was a little bit surprising. But I think you can't fault the president for going to advocate for America and for American jobs. And I do think that the Republicans are going to suffer a little backlash if they keep up this chant of cheering for the fact we didn't win. In essence you heard a number of stories about Rush Limbaugh was jubilant. That's not just rooting against Obama, but America.</s>ROBERTS: What about you, Ed? Were you cheering the fact that Chicago didn't win?</s>ED ROLLINS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: No. I wanted Chicago to win. And I always want America to win. You know, was it a wasted trip? Yes. It doesn't matter anymore. It's over and it's last week's story. And I think the bottom line is somewhere along the line he didn't have good a voter counter as you would normally think the White House would have.</s>ROBERTS: But could he ignore it, though, particularly when you consider that British prime ministers lobbied for the London Olympics, and other world leaders -- Lula Silva was lobbying for Rio de Janeiro -- did he have to do this?</s>ROLLING: I think his own instincts, which two or three weeks ago was I have too much on my plate, I'm not going to go, were right. I think he got talked into it at the end of the day. And obviously, it's a...</s>ROBERTS: He felt a lot of pressure. It's a one-day story. It's gone. It's now about Afghanistan. It's now about health care.</s>FINNEY: But also, you know, having been on Air Force One and done work on Air Force One, I mean, the plane is equipped to do work, so we shouldn't get -- you know, think that he just got on a plane and focused on the Olympics and didn't have time to focus on anything else.</s>ROLLINS: He should -- he should have spent a little bit more time with McChrystal.</s>KINNEY: That might have been nice.</s>ROLLINS: I think a 25-minute stop to give his wife a tour of the plane was not quite sufficient considering what's coming up.</s>ROBERTS: Well, "Saturday Night Live" had a little bit of fun at the president's expense over the weekend. A little skit about what he promised to do and what he's accomplished so far. Let's roll the videotape and we'll talk about it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE, PLAYING PRESIDENT OBAMA: Take a look at this checklist. Now, on my first day in office -- on my first day in office, I said I'd close Guantanamo Bay. Is it closed yet? No. I said we'd be out of Iraq. Are we? Not the last time I checked. I said I'd make improvements in the war in Afghanistan. Is it better? No, I think it's actually worse.</s>ROBERTS: It's comedy, but is there a shred of truth in there?</s>FINNEY: There's a shred of truth. But look, I do think a lot of the things that the president has started to put in place like the stimulus package are going to take some time to really, you know, sort of bear out the fruits of that. The Iraq decision, we're beginning to withdraw. He's about to make a decision on Afghanistan, so it's going to be a little bit of time.</s>ROBERTS: Yes. Let's talk a little bit about Afghanistan here. Let's go the real serious point here. Eight soldiers killed over the weekend. The worst attack in 15 months. General Jim Jones seemed to dress down General Stanley McChrystal suggesting that that speech that he did promoting his position wasn't the wisest thing to do. Are you getting some -- picking up some friction here, Ed, or pressure from the generals in the Pentagon to have more than one option?</s>ROLLINS: I think the game has changed dramatically for the generals. I think under President Bush and Vice President Cheney who had kind of a war mentality, they were very much at the table. I think McChrystal went into Afghanistan assuming he had that same premise that the president asked him to go, asked him to come up with an assessment. I think you now have other voices that aren't quite so pro-war, and I think to a certain extent I think McChrystal made a mistake by going out in public and advocating. I'm a big advocate of the military. I think this is a very capable man, but I think this president has made a very deliberate decision that I'm not making the decision for a while.</s>FINNEY: Well, look, I also think we have to realize we learned a lot from our mistakes in Iraq. And obviously there are significant differences between Iraq and Afghanistan. But we have to put some of those mistakes to use as we're making the decision in Afghanistan, meaning, you know, General McChrystal himself said it's not just about troops, it's about diplomacy, it's about development. So I think part of the argument you're seeing were the discussions you're seeing is what's the right complement of troops? What does success mean? What does winning mean?</s>ROBERTS: One quick issue I just want to deal with. The Dalai Lama is going to be in town this week. For the first time since 1991, not meeting with the president because the president doesn't want to upset China before his meeting with the premier, Hu Jintao. Good idea? Bad idea?</s>ROLLINS: It's a very important thing because the Chinese right now are the most important potential ally that we have particularly in the...</s>ROBERTS: So you agree with putting this off?</s>ROLLINS: I would agree at this point.</s>FINNEY: I think it's going to disappoint a number of folks on the left, but politically speaking, it's probably the right decision.</s>ROBERTS: All right. Karen Finney, Ed Rollins, always great to see you. Thanks so much.</s>ROLLINS: Thank you.</s>ROBERTS: Eighteen and a half minutes now after the hour.