Column: Politicians Abuse Power By Urging Olympic Boycott
This story was written by Dave Player, Daily Texan
Michigan's Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, has never cleared nineteen feet on a pole vault. Rep. Maxine Waters from California can not swim a 100-meter breaststroke. Yet these politicians seem content to dash the dreams of this country's Olympic athletes by calling for a boycott of the Olympic games.
Last year, both representatives proposed resolutions to ban government officials from attending the games' ceremonies and urging them to skip the games entirely and keep American athletes stateside. The resolutions came in protest of the host nation, China, and its handling of recent political dissidence in Tibet as well as a general lack of political freedoms in the country. Chinese links to the crisis in Darfur have also drawn fire from Waters. Both representatives have since backed off of their calls for a complete boycott, but they still strongly support a boycott of the opening ceremonies.
While the representatives' sentiments are justified, their proposed response to them is not. Bringing the heralded tradition of the Olympic Games into the political world is a blatant and unacceptable abuse of power. Many in Congress, such as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, are asking President Bush to skip the Games' opening ceremonies in protest. But Bush is making the right choice in refusing to turn innocent athletes and the time-honored games into political pawns by planning to attend the events.
Our politicians could learn something from Olympic history. According to some accounts from ancient Greek mythology, the games were originally created as a festival to honor the gods. Warring nations would lay down their weapons to compete symbiotically. Today's games may not hold the same power, but a similar sentiment remains as the ceremonies and competitions can create a greater sense of global community.
Self-centered actions such as boycotts do nothing to foster relations and, as past attempts have shown, serve only to embitter the host country and its athletes. Many former American Olympians still have sour memories of the 1980 games in Moscow and President Jimmy Carter's choice to boycott them in protest of Soviet actions of Afghanistan. In response to that boycott, the Soviet Union staged their own protest of the 1984 games in Los Angeles. In both cases, the political effects of the boycotts were minimal. The main result was the compromised quality of the Games as valuable athletes were forced to stay home.
Presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama has stated he would skip the opening ceremonies because of their actions in Tibet and has previously called on President Bush to boycott them as well. But for such a statesman, who has shown a willingness to meet with nations like Iran and Syria, Obama may want to take a page from President Bush's playbook. China is an enormously powerful nation, and for him to take a stand on such a minute issue - Olympic ceremony attendance - harkens back to a Cold War mentality.
President Bush has defended his planned attendance of the opening ceremonies as a responsible measure that puts the U.S. in the best position to engage China in diplomatic talks over internal policies. Skipping the pomp and prestige of the opening ceremonies, an event that will highlight the Chinese nation and its people, would be a slap in the face to China. As issues like global climate change and a stalling U.S. economy loom, such a display to the Eastern superpower would be not only disrespectful, but dangerous to American interests.
But these political ploys should be forgotten during the Olympics. The U.S. government could very well use the games as a venue to open dialogue with China over its own perceived flaws. Those talks, however, should not come at the expense of the athletes or fans. Politicians should pay homage o the rules of this ancient tradition by closing their mouths and enjoying the game.