It’s hard to imagine a more undeserving U.S. city to host the Olympics than Chicago. Forgive me Cubs fans and Windy City residents, but your house is not in order. Today’s Tribune carries the latest on the federal investigation into the stormy tenure of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, allegations that Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. used his congressional staff in Chicago and Washington to mount a “public campaign” for the seat vacated by President Barack Obama, a possible violation of federal law and House rules and the latest in a string of Chicago politicians to corrupt themselves in the quest to fill Obama’s place.

Meanwhile, over at the Sun-Times we learn that Mayor Daley has laid off 431 city employees and forced those still on the payroll to take unpaid days off, as the city grapples with budget deficits and now $61.3 million it has allowed to slip in the last 19 months due to defaults and unpaid fines.

None of this stops University of Chicago business school dean Edward Snyder from asking if the Olympics will be good for Chicago, in an op-ed dripping with entitlement fever. “Beyond the tangible returns, will Chicago’s leaders leverage the Olympic spirit to effect change, such as improving the quality of education in Chicago Public Schools?” he asks. It’s hard to imagine more hubris than asking the International Olympic Committee to do for its city what Chicagoans—and apparently the current U.S. Secretary of Education, former Chicago school super Arne Duncan—have not been able to do for themselves.