Bread and circuses

From Wikipedia, the foloowing definition :

"Bread and circuses" (or Bread and games) (from Latin: panem et circenses) is a metaphor for handouts and petty amusements that politicians use to gain popular support, instead of gaining it through sound policy. The phrase is invoked not only to criticize politicians, but also to criticize their supporters for giving up their civic duty.


Hasn't President Obama got something more important to do than to fly to Copenhagen to lobby the Olympic Committee in person ?



President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama leave after the Chicago 2016 bid presentation during the 121st International Olympic Committee session at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Friday, Oct. 2, 2009. Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo are competing for the right to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. The IOC will choose the winning city in a vote on Friday in Copenhagen. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, Pool)





President Obama today sought to link Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics with his wider foreign policy goals, promising to use the Games to reconnect America with the world.

After flying in to Copenhagen this morning to speak on behalf of his former hometown, which is going head to head with Rio, Madrid and Tokyo in today's International Olympic Committee vote, Obama vowed that one legacy of the Games would be to rehabilitate America's image in the eyes of the world.

Obama, the first serving US president to appear before the IOC, said that he hoped that one legacy of the Games would be to serve as a "reminder that America at its best is open to the world".
(source : The Guardian)




Meanwhile, breaking news :

 The unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent in September as employers cut far more jobs than expected, evidence that the longest recession since the 1930s is still inflicting widespread pain. (source : Associated Press)

Isn't there anything indecent here ?
Is Obama's job to do his best to fight against unemployment, or to have fun with his wife in Scandinavia, chatting about sport ?


Hasn't Michelle Obama something more urgent to do than spending several days in Denmark to speak about her childhood memories in Chicago ?

Who cares ? Who cares about her father ? Who cares about her personal stories ?


Am I wrong, or is there currently a terrible economic crisis leaving the American population in dire straits, something unprecedented which is ruining the lives of millions of families ?

Shouldn't the First Couple show their support to their fellow-citizens, as Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt did, during the Great Depression ?

Are we really sure that these "bread and circuses" are really what the people need, or is it only a way for an incompetent president to divert attention from his incapacity to reform his country as he had promised ?