Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport can now be changed to

The_ Barack_Obama_ Global Transportation Center

As for the Olympics themselves, I wrote off so much in sports long ago because of the commercialism (which preceded the commercialized names of pro sports stadia nowadays), and of course the Olympics has the same commercialist annoyance that corresponds to what some would want to with — no, not Barack Obama yet, but — Ronald Reagan's name, prepending it to something in every county in the USA. “Official Olympic,” “Ronald Reagan,” “Nokia,” “Qualcomm,” all tawdry and tacky.

But the Games are a chance, while the world is watching, to press China for change.

Without change China will carry on executing more of its citizens than any other country in the world, it will continue censoring the media and the Internet and it will continue locking up and torturing those who try to stand up for their rights and the rights of others.

It isn’t political. To stand up for human rights is to stand up for the values enshrined in the Olympic Charter.

http://www.uncensor.com.au

Just kidding.

Shaun makes a very interesting point here. Some folks here might be surprised at the close ties between the GOP and the Beijing leadership.

A personal story: The morning after the 2004 election was particularly surreal for me . . . as one of my clients – an aide to one of China's princelings – called me in near hysterics that Kerry had not conceded. He was terrified that Kerry & the Democrats would win, and protectionist trade barriers would go up. So I spent that sunny November morning with him in a Starbucks calming his nerves . . . reassuring him of a Bush victory and the status quo. A very surreal morning, to be sure.

You can be sure that China is hoping for a McCain victory this fall.
The ruling class hate/fear/despise the Democrats, as they have always had the best relations with a GOP run America.

Odd bit of trivia: The ruling elite keeps NO money in Chinese banks, as they don't trust the Chinese banking system (too easy for rivals to access). Most of their money was kept in HK banks . . . a British-run HK obeying the rule of law was very useful to them. Since '97 it is moved further offshore.

Stories of China as a rival US superpower are vastly overblown. The Chinese elite has no interest in playing rival games with the US, and is generally content to accept US global hegemony. They need the US badly.

I would point out how China suppressed any internal criticism of Bush's invasion of Iraq. They hardly made a peep of protest. They like and admire Bush, after all.

It will be fascinating to see how much of the reality of modern China enters media coverage hahahahahahaha….

First, the Olympics are not for sports fans. With the networks paying so much money, they need to attract casual viewers. This means having brand name professional play and for emphasizing sports that casual not sports fan women like. Why do you think the networks show so much gymnastics and why they do so many up close and personal segments. It is to attract women. I stopped watching when the networks made it seem that every athletes has overcome adversity in order to make the games.

The nationalistic aspects also manage to attract the casual fans. How even thought about Olympic basketball until the USSR beat the USA in 1972?

And last, the synergy aspects driven by consultants is horrible. Every media outlet has sent people to China. They are churning out China stories to justify the expense of going.