The host city for the 2016 Olympic Games has been announced. Chicago bowed out after the first round of voting for the host city as it received the fewest votes. One of Hong Kong’s news broadcasts reported that the sudden appearance of the US president Obama at the IOC meeting was expected to lift Chicago’s chances, but the defeat showed that the US would not have its way all the time on the foreign affairs scene. Not only would this weaken Obama’s reputation on the world stage, it would also undermine his standing in domestic politics. I couldn’t understand how people could make such an exaggeration on Obama’s effect on the voting and on the consequences of the defeat. I tended to think it was just another of those conspiracies against Obama by his political enemies. 2016年奧運主辦城市已經揭盅，申辦城市之一的城市芝加哥在第一輪投票輪選時已出局，無線新聞報導時說，有人事前預言美國總統奧巴馬臨時決定現身拉票會有助芝加哥勝出，但這次落敗也顯示奧巴馬在外交上並非有絕對影響力，事事不一定順境，還可能影響其在美國國內的管治威信云云。 我聽罷也覺可笑，事前把奧巴馬說成是神一樣，事敗後也把其後果無限放大，真不曉得是不是奧巴馬政敵的陰謀論也。 * * * The same news broadcast also r