Kind of surprised no one caught this, given the inherent humor in it, so I figured I should say something on. After all, I am a Bears fan and therefore, as a proud follower of the Monsters of the Midway, I have no small amount of affection for Da Coach. But while I greatly admire Mike Ditka on the subject of football, politics are another matter. After all, this is a self proclaimed "ultra-ultra-ultra-conservative" with a hard-on for the Wasilla Grifter. But if you think that's a little loopy, that's nothing compared to what he said recently, when he talked about his "biggest mistake." And no, it's not this infamous SI cover.
A little backstory, in case you've forgotten. Back in 2004, after Jack Ryan's implosion and when Barack Obama had a clear path to victory in the Senate race, some Republicans urged Ditka to run, only to have Ditka, after enjoying the attention for a little while (the man does love attention), turn them down. And now, nearly a decade later, Ditka can't help but think about what might have been:
Ditka, who coached the Chicago Bears to a Super Bowl victory, made several comments about his conservative politics, including saying he regrets not running against Barack Obama to represent Illinois in the U.S. Senate.
“Biggest mistake I’ve ever made,” Ditka said. “Not that I would have won, but I probably would have and he wouldn’t be in the White House.”
Yep, no one ever said Ditka didn't lack for self-confidence or ego. But like so many things the GOP believes in, reality disagrees. Per
the Atlantic Wire:
Could Ditka have "tackled" Obama's political ambitions, preventing his becoming "coach" of the United States, "Bear"ing the challenges of running for and "win"ning political office? No, probably not. ("Football.")
In 2004, polling firm SurveyUSA did a head to head poll between Ditka and Obama... Obama held a 7-point lead over Ditka — and that was before Obama's career-defining speech at the Democratic convention that September.
Precisely. But don't worry, coach. You would have had the backing of
this guy all the way.
But Ditka didn't. And now he and so many other Republicans can only think of what might have been and how they missed the chance to snuff the apocalyptic threat of the Evil Black Kenyan Muslim Usurper early on. But they didn't. And sadly, neither this guy or this guy can help you with that.
And, as always, go Bears.