Is Obama Punishing the Olympic Committee

You'll remember that this past summer Obama and his Chicago entourage flew to Copenhagen to make a pitch for the Olympic Games only to be shut out in the first round. That apparently didn't sit well with the president, and Top of the Ticket say's he'll be skipping an opportunity to wish our athletes well in Vancouver as the Winter Games get underway:

As one result of that civic rejection, the American president, who could fly up to Boston on a moment's notice in a hopeless bid to salvage one U.S. Senate race, cannot possibly fit into his impossibly important schedule a visit to the IOC's 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics to send off hundreds of U.S. athletes.

The Winter Games open this week a few miles north of Washington state. Just too far to go and too much to do changing the way Washington works, you understand. So that it's more Chicago-like.

So Obama is sending in the second string for Friday's opening ceremonies, Delaware's Joe "I Rode Amtrak for Years Without a Crash" Biden.

Of course, to avoid wasting any trip, after a Wednesday evening fundraiser in Washington on his way to represent the United States in Vancouver, Biden will squeeze in a fundraiser for Washington Democrat Sen. Patty Murray.

And for the closing ceremonies, it's even worse. The White House is dispatching whatever string Homeland Security Secy. Janet "The System Worked" Napolitano is.

Too bad.

The Obamas will miss out on seeing arguably North America's most beautiful city. And their absence will be taken quietly as another snub by the United States' closest, friendliest, most important neighbor -- or neighbour, if you're reading this north of the border.

This is Canada's biggest moment on the world stage in years. And its partner in the world's largest bilateral economic relationship sends in the same gaffe-prone gabber who was assigned the secondary chore of briefing Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Obama's Afghan surge speech last fall.

While the Main Man briefed the world's really important leaders himself.

For all that, the judges would probably give the administration a 1.2.

Sending Biden is like England sending Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards to compete in the Ski Jump in 1988. It's not gonna be pretty.