Hilldog, noooooooooo...

Goddammit, why'd you do that?  

The violent clashes in Tibet and the failure of the Chinese government to use its full leverage with Sudan to stop the genocide in Darfur are opportunities for presidential leadership.

These events underscore why I believe the Bush administration has been wrong to downplay human rights in its policy towards China. At this time, and in light of recent events, I believe President Bush should not plan on attending the opening ceremonies in Beijing, absent major changes by the Chinese government.

She is absolutely right to suggest that the current situation presented is an opportunity for presidential leadership.  GWB has been strangely, sadly meek regarding the topics of Darfur and Tibet, certainly because the U.S.'s relationship with China is an always changing, never clear, give and take clusterfuck, without the possibility that one of the two countries ever taking an overt, cock-measuring stance against the other won't lead to a major international incident.  

So Bush is not going to skip the Olympic opening ceremonies, nor should he.  Like him or not, he is the President of the United States, and the Office has to attend.  But beyond U.S./China relations, politicians or leaders should never fuck with the Olympics.  That is supposed to be one of the beauties of the games.  The event is not a pawn.  The athletes themselves, are not pawns.  Jimmy Carter fucked the dreams of hundreds of U.S. athletes, their parents, coaches, friends and others in 1980 upon boycotting the Moscow games.  Hilldog's not calling for a complete boycott, but the message is the same; the Olympics is not immune from politics, as it was meant to be.  

Let the athlete boycott.  Let the athlete raise a fist.  But don't you Mr. or Mrs. Politician, Hilldog, choose this event, in which you have invested nothing and these athletes who have worked harder than few can understand have invested everything, as a trophy.