Muffling the echoes of "What do we do now?" By Steven Gardner      Now that the Olympics are over, we can all go back to ignoring Utah.    One of Utah’s most prominent residents voiced a line in a 1970 movie that’s echoing throughout the state this week. Robert Redford, playing Bill McKay in “The Candidate,” wins an election he didn’t expect or even intend to win. As the movie ends he shouts to his campaign manager, “What do I do now?”    Utahns may be reveling in one of the most stunning successes the state has ever known. For 17 days there was little that wasn’t perfect about the city, even if the games themselves held controversy.    That the games happened in Salt Lake at all for a time seemed as unlikely as Chris Klug winning a bronze medal. The bribery scandal four years earlier threatened to derail the city’s hope of even hosting the games. Once they were over, it was clear the Salt Lake City’s legacy would more about the games than the shady dealings.    Utahns proved to be great hosts. They were welcoming, even charitable at times. Still, less than 12 hours after the torch was extinguished, some people were waiting as many as seven hours to get out of there. “Thanks for the party, I’ll show myself out.”    The sad reality for Utah is now that the games are over, few will care about the state anymore.    Utahns will get to weigh the pain of being the butt of polygamy jokes versus the disgrace of being ignored. My sense is they’d prefer the jokes.    Growing up in California I never wondered what other people in the country thought of us. When I moved to Utah, however, I saw how much that mattered there. That’s why the Olympics were such a big deal. It was a chance for the state to become something more than a quirk.    I lived in Utah for several years, leaving a little more than a year before the Olympics. Before the 17-day sprint we all had our routines, but the Olympics provided a steady undercurrent of anxiety.    We all knew it was coming. We all figured it would be huge. But most of us welcomed the opportunity to have the light shining on us.    Now it’s over and the state legislature is back to arguing about school vouchers. Utahns by and large are probably back in their routines and experiencing a collective gloom. For weeks, as long as the snow is on the ground, it will likely feel like the day after the best night of their lives. The games that defined them are over. The foreigners are gone and most will never return.    They will miss the tourists and the athletes. Most of all they will miss the attention.    In all likelihood there will be another slower, but significant, exodus. People who lived in Utah for no reason other than the Olympics will give their personal computers a workout creating their resumes. Salt Lake City will be mentioned as often as Lake Placid and Squaw Valley in some circles. In other words, hardly at all.    But the letdown won’t last forever. Residents will once again look out their car windows and notice the scenery that is ever present. They will soon find something else to look forward to. The snow will melt. Summer will come and for three weeks in July Utahns will again enjoy the longest fireworks season in the country.    And in about 20 years, maybe sooner, someone in Utah is going to raise the possibility of hosting the games again. If successful, a new batch of Utahns will do unthinkable things to get the bid, prepare like crazy, and do what they can to host another success. As unfathomable as it may seem to those now coming down from the two week high, Utahns will welcome the spotlight again.    And just like their predecessors, once the games are over a new generation of hosts will ask, “What do we do now?”