Barack Obama, who has already lobbied for his adopted hometown of Chicago to win it's bid for the Olympics, is now using his clout to try and persuade FIFA to hold the World Cup in the U.S. in 2018 or 2022. Using the grand, sweeping rhetoric that is becoming more familiar by the day, Obama wrote to FIFA that "this bid is about much more than a game...It is about the United States of America inviting the world to gather all across our great country in celebration of our common hopes and dreams." Though a basketball man himself, Obama played soccer while spending his youth in Jakarta and has attended his daughters' soccer games. Considering that Americans prefer their sports violent and high-scoring, it is surprising that when the World Cup was held in the U.S. in 1994 an attendance record was set that still stands.
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