The Soviets Pull Out Politics and the Olympic glop. Initiate, that is, a long-overdue cleanup of the Olympics. All of this is froth, or, as the Marxists would say, the ideological mask for the real intent.
Gold medals are radically subordinate to that goal.
It is now widely assumed that there will be a major Communist offensive in El Salvador this October, designed to hand Reagan the unpalatable choice of intervention or a Communist takeover. The offensive will be Moscow's and Havana's way of voting in the U.S. election. The Los Angeles Olympics figured to be a political plus for Reagan. At the very least, if all went well, the Olympic Games would put large numbers of Americans in a temporary good mood, always a plus for incumbents. The Olympics, in a larger sense, would be part of a procession of Reagan plusses, taking their appointed place along with the China trip, the meeting with the Pope in Alaska, the upcoming visits to Ireland and Normandy, the summit conference in Europe, and the Republican Convention in Dallas.