US Olympic Uniforms Bring Criticism

In 2002 the organization committee for the winter Olympics in Salt Lake City was asked if it had any problem with the fact that the torch bearer would be wearing a uniform manufactured in Burma, a military dictatorship. The self-confident answer was that they saw no problem since the uniforms were not manufactured in Burma, but in Myanmar.

That answer revealed an unusual grasp of world geography, to say the least. The Olympic Committee simply ignored the fact that Burma and Myanmar were one and the same nation, ruled by the same military junta even after the name change.

That embarrassment would have been long since forgotten had it not been for the uniforms the 2012 U.S. Olympic team will wear at the summer games in London. There is outrage in XXX-L from the large peoples’ boutique because the American athletes are to march in the opening parade wearing uniforms manufactured in China, of all places — a nation hardly known for its observance of human rights.

Bipartisan Criticism

The uniform outrage has led to an unusual coalition between Republicans and Democrats in Washington. They finally agree on something for a change. Conservative Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner wondered publicly how fashion company Ralph Lauren could come up with such a crass idea. And Democratic Senator Harry Reid took a deep breath, placed a hand over his patriotic heart and suggested that the navy blue blazers should be tossed into a heap, set ablaze and the whole exercise should start over from square one. The Ralph Lauren firm announced that while they couldn’t un-ring a bell, they promised that something similar wouldn’t happen at the 2014 winter games in Sochi, Russia.

Only one person was silent about the affair: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, normally first out of the gate to criticize the Chinese. One might suspect his silence is well founded since he was the organizer-in-chief for the Salt Lake City games.