NYT Cheers "Seamless" Olympics

The New York Times thinks Britain pulled off a near flawless Olympics.

The Olympics will also be remembered for what did not happen here. There were no security scares, despite hand-wringing about how vulnerable London might be to acts of terrorism. The serenity came at a steep price, one that could be measured in dollars — roughly $1.5 billion was spent on jets, choppers, snipers and surface-to-air missiles — as well as time. For fans, athletes and the news media, visiting the Olympic park was like arriving at La Guardia during peak flying times. The widely predicted traffic snarls never materialized, either. A small fortune was spent on ads urging Londoners to “Get ahead of the games,” which most of the locals translated to “Get lost, O.K.?” There was plenty of room on the city’s subway, ample seats in restaurants and plenty of empty taxis. Lousy news for local entrepreneurs, good news for everyone else. What passed for a scandal was the appearance of empty seats at some early events, and excruciatingly long lines to pick up tickets. Other than that, the alarmists and detractors had little fodder. Even the weather played nice. This was an astoundingly seamless production, given the size of this city and the scale of the endeavor.

And you know Britain's deserved satisfaction with a job well done is made all the more sweeter by what surely must be a national chorus of "In your FACE, Romney." American memories will be more colored, however, with bitterness over NBC's tape-delays and the IOC's iron fist on the internet. But we can look forward to live coverage (on the East Coast, at least) from Rio de Janeiro in four years.