French Humility

Oh Jacques Chirac, why must you make things soooooo personal. Yes, Paris, the front runner, lost the 2012 games to London. The final standings were as follows:
1. London
2. Paris
3. Madrid
4. New York
5. Moscow
There are many funny aspects to this final standing. First of all, Moscow, which Putin "guaranteed" would ready, was judged, "too far from ready." Ouch. Next was New York. The city that never sleeps was apparently crushed that they lost, but the IOC said there were too many security risks. Really? Security risks? In a city that was claiming that there are, at any given point, 22 million people (including the suburbs)? Noooooo. Then there was Madrid. It was apparently voted out because of security concerns as well. (Anyone remember the whole bombing thing?) So it came down to Paris and London.
Now, Paris was the favorite, but it shot itself in the foot many, many times like a twitching gunfighter. First of all, there was politics. France was the first country to pull out of the new European Union constitution. Not a smart move. The second issue, however, was Chirac's actions at a conclave in Russia. Apparently he was meeting with Putin and Schroeder (the German Chancellor) and made the following comment:
"The only thing the British contributed to European agriculture was mad cow disease." Now, the food of a country is not considered by the IOC, but still, that's a low blow. He apparently ragged on American food at the same time. Could his negative comments and attitude have been the reason that Paris lost the games? Many in the media sure think so.
Chirac made it personal, however, when he said that he believed that Paris lost the games because of him. Well, I'm glad to see that you feel you have that much power, Mr. Chirac.
I would like to congratulate London on receiving the games. There's a lot of work to be down, but you do have seven years. Good luck.