Was he selling Chicago or selling himself (again)?
Premise: Is the international stage as much under the "sway" of the O's as Americans are? Or as the American media is? Is he limited to the sales ability of "Obama" and the influence of Chicago style machine politics? Does he know what really selling entail?
Interesting observation:
Of course Barack and Michelle Obama failed in Copenhagen. Their strategy could not possibly succeed. In their academic arrogance, they thought they could sell a product they clearly do not believe in (the United States) and moreover, they could do so by stressing the benefits to the seller (Chicago) and not the buyer (the IOC). And to top it off, they committed the faux pas of talking too much about the sales force (themselves) and not about the product or the buyer.
Gee, what could possibly go wrong?
There are grains of truth in this. To the first, since taking office Obama has repeatedly apologized for any number of sins that America has committed in the past and often with with the undertones of "but I am not like the rest!". With the phrase "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country' " still ringing off Michelle's lips, their product (us) has already been sullied. Frankly, this akin to a car dealer concentrating on the low gas mileage of a Bentley over its other features - this does not appeal to the buyer (who, at contemplating such a purchase, has no concerns at all for this "failure").
I have done pretty much every job in the software sphere possible EXCEPT for being a sales guy. Unlike some engineers, I only hold really bad sales buffoons in extremely low regard (those whose goals are their commission checks vs the headaches / heartburn they cause the rest of us) - there are some that really believe in the products they sell and position them truthfully how they can benefit the customer (and yes, I have worked with both types and can spot the different within a couple of heartbeats). In reviewing words of post-Copenhagen, I see more of the buffoon than the dedicated.
The Obamas were selling themselves (again) and what the Olympics could do vis-a-vis their vision of Americanism (the children, diversity, "we're all in this together" collective").
The IOC was not a Berlin campaign event and Obama and handlers didn't recognize it. Rather, this was a case, to take the selling analogy one more step, of the IOC in the role of a producer of a good and service of which they are rightfully proud of. In this case, The Obamas are cast in the role of manufacturers rep who would be responsible to act on behalf of the manufacturer's product benefit - the IOC was looking for the answer to the question: Who will best represent us to the world and take care of our product?
While a manufacturer rep has to talk themselves up a bit as part of the sales gig, their initial goal is to assure that the answer is "yes, you and your product is in the best of hands".
Sadly, we saw that the Obamas "worked the first" (selling themselves) and neglected the more important part - taking care of the product.
Sadly, that's what we Americans are now seeing domestically - selling his ideas instead of extolling American ideals - the essence of America.
