For weeks we have been watching the anticipation build up in advance of the arrival of the Olympic Torch to San Francisco on its worldwide journey to culminate at the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. Let me start by saying that I thought it was a remarkably poor decision by the International Olympic Organizing Committee (IOOC) to put the 2008 Summer Games in China, whether because of the trampling of the rights of the people of Tibet, or for that matter, the trampling of the rights of billions — the Chinese people. It also, frankly, seemed to be a bone-headed choice to run the torch through San Francisco, perhaps the least patriotic city in our nation. That said, with the torch coming, and the political madness coming to a crescendo, all eyes were on yesterday’s big run.
Mayor Gavin Newsom decided to do a "last minute switcharoo" while many thousands gathered along the advertised torch route, many to protest China, and presumably many who just wanted to see a little history jog past their front door. Newsom quietly and quickly instead had the torch route diverted across town, miles from the original route, for what we even-then a shortened run. No doubt Newsom had cringed when he saw that protesters in Paris actually got a hold of the torch and doused its flame. Gavin’s case, of course, was one of concern about public safety given the raw emotions that were being associated with this event.
In our opinion, given the threat, Newsom should have simply called the IOOC and told them that, as it turns out, the torch is not welcome in San Francisco. That they (the IOOC) should have thought about the political ramifications of awarding the games to a regime like that of Red China. With that call, Newsom would have both resolved his public safety concerns, and also equally as importantly, given an important victory to those who were protesting what China stands for — including an atrocious record on the issue of human rights.
Instead, Newsom made a poor decision, and handed a symbolic victory to the Chinese government. You have to wonder about someone like Gavin Newsom. When the America-haters in his city want to rally against the United States, he is an enabler, standing toe to toe with the bizarro-set to decry his own country. But when those in San Francisco that want to stand up against a totalitarian regime in China (and in this case, their occupation of Tibet and abuse of the Tibetan people), Newsom aids and abets the Commies. What a screwed up sense of priorities.
My brother and his wife live in San Francisco. Frankly, the three of us don’t agree on too much politically (they are Democrats, of course). But I suspect we all can agree on this — that Gavin Newsom took a shameful course of action. Perhaps he and his family will get a set of free passes from the Communists to go to Disneyland Hong Kong. After all, he’s earned them…
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