Obama's To Do List (Or Not To Do)

As I look across the country, I am assuming that President's Obama's to do list includes the following (in no particular order):

1. Gracefully get out of Iraq
2. Re-strategize the Afghanistan war
3. Get the sky rocketing deficit under control
4. Reduce sky rocketing unemployment rate
5. Implement an effective and doable immigration policy
6. Find the accomplices and bomb making materials that Najibullah Zazi was working with
7. Fix failing public schools
8. Finally win the war on drugs
9. Fix the totally ineffective fence on the Mexican/U.S. border (see yesterday's post)
10. Come up with a coherent national energy strategy
11. Pass effective and efficient health care reform
12. Close the Guantanomo Bay prison facility
13. Neutralize the Iranian nuclear bomb threat
14. Make nice with the Czechs and Polish who you royally dissed last week with a non-diplomatic handling of the missile defense decision
15. Reduce the oppressive tax burden on Americans
16. Fix the Palestinian/Israeli conflict
17. Fix a Social Security System heading for bankruptcy
18. Find a way to get the "bickering" (his words) under control between the citizens of this country
19. Fix a Medicare system heading for bankruptcy

At least I thought this would be his to do list, Instead, he has decided to jet over to Copenhagen and personally lobby the International Olympic Committee to hold the 2016 summer Olympic games in his home town of Chicago. I would have thought that this trip would be unnecessary/a secondary priority given the other things in the list above but silly me, what do I know. A few observations about the trip:

• Why did his wife and her contingent go over separately? Was that totally necessary from a taxpayer expense perspective? Couldn't they have managed their schedules to go together?
• If Akron, Ohio was in the running for the Games, would he have gone to Copenhagen to support Akron? I sincerely doubt it, which means he is showing extreme favoritism to his home town even though he should be representing all of America.
• Is this personal support a quid pro quo for his Illinois supporters of his 2008 Presidential campaign? Did he get financial and other support in exchange for helping to bring the games to Chicago?
• How will his local Chicago supporters benefit financially from this support if Chicago gets the Games? There are already reports circulating that his local buddies will make a killing from a real estate perspective.
• Will the presence of the Games in Chicago result in a large displacement of Chicago citizens like it did in China? Again, there are already reports that where the proposed Games will be staged will require a large imminent domain displacement of lower and lower/middle class homes.
• Although past American city hosts of Olympic games were on the hook for Olympic costs and expenses, will Obama smooth the way somehow that all American taxpayers get stuck with the bill rather than just the Chicago area residents?
• A recent Sports Illustrated article cited a reputable opinion poll that showed in February two out of three Chicago resident's supported the bid while a recent update to that poll showed that the city was split 50/50 on whether they supported the bid, i.e. interest among the residents is waning. Shouldn't they have a major say in whether they want their jobs, lives, and homes disrupted and not the local political class in cahoots with the national political class?

Between stints on Letterman and Leno, publicly picking his March Madness basketball brackets, going to Denmark for the Olympic bidding, etc., I am now officially tired and disgusted with the President's priorities. It appears to me that he puts far more importance on being the President than acting presidential.