Presidential Candidates Comment on Olympics
Demonstrators around the world are using the Olympic torch’s journey from Greece to Beijing as an opportunity to express their views about China’s handling of the Tibet situation.
The Olympics are supposed to be about the unity of all people through sports. The overlapped Olympic rings symbolize the five populated continents linked together as one. But, throughout the history of the Olympics, politics has played a major role.
The 2008 Olympics appears to be headed in the same direction. The question that now is being asked of all world leaders is whether they will boycott the opening ceremonies to show their disfavor with China’s human rights problems.
So where do the U.S. leaders stand on the issue? President Bush has said at this point that he will attend the opening ceremonies because the Games are not about politics; they are about sports.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has publicly stated that the President should not attend because of China’s handling of Tibet. Now the three candidates for president have taken their positions on the issue.
Republican John McCain said yesterday that if he were president, he would only go to the opening ceremonies if China improves its record on human rights.
McCain said, “I would say right now it depends on Chinese behavior. Unless there is some progress with the Dalai Lama, including conversations with him, including stopping this brutal crackdown that we're seeing in Tibet, then I would make the decision not to go. But I would say to the Chinese, 'Look. Clean up your act here. This is not acceptable.'"
Barack Obama joined Hillary Clinton in calling for President Bush to boycott the opening ceremonies. Mr. Obama hedged a little when he added that it is still a little early to make a final decision.
Source: USA Today
BLOG QUESTION
Do you think the Olympic Games should be considered off-limits for all political issues even human rights issues like Tibet and Darfur?
The Olympics are supposed to be about the unity of all people through sports. The overlapped Olympic rings symbolize the five populated continents linked together as one. But, throughout the history of the Olympics, politics has played a major role.
The 2008 Olympics appears to be headed in the same direction. The question that now is being asked of all world leaders is whether they will boycott the opening ceremonies to show their disfavor with China’s human rights problems.
So where do the U.S. leaders stand on the issue? President Bush has said at this point that he will attend the opening ceremonies because the Games are not about politics; they are about sports.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has publicly stated that the President should not attend because of China’s handling of Tibet. Now the three candidates for president have taken their positions on the issue.
Republican John McCain said yesterday that if he were president, he would only go to the opening ceremonies if China improves its record on human rights.
McCain said, “I would say right now it depends on Chinese behavior. Unless there is some progress with the Dalai Lama, including conversations with him, including stopping this brutal crackdown that we're seeing in Tibet, then I would make the decision not to go. But I would say to the Chinese, 'Look. Clean up your act here. This is not acceptable.'"
Barack Obama joined Hillary Clinton in calling for President Bush to boycott the opening ceremonies. Mr. Obama hedged a little when he added that it is still a little early to make a final decision.
Source: USA Today
BLOG QUESTION
Do you think the Olympic Games should be considered off-limits for all political issues even human rights issues like Tibet and Darfur?
1 Comments:
No way! The Olympics are a great event, and it is a once in a lifetime oppurtunity, and we shouldn't stop it just because of Darfur, which I know yes, is a better cause but we could do that anyway, but stopping the Olympics isn't a good option.
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