President Barack Obama arriving in Copenhagen for what turned out to be a failed Chicago bid for the 2016 Olympic games.
President Barack Obama arriving in Copenhagen for what turned out to be a failed Chicago bid for the 2016 Olympic games.
Before President Barack Obama flew to Copenhagen to lobby for his hometown Chicago and the U.S. to get the 2016 Olympic games, some questioned whether it was wise for him to put the prestige of the U.S. presidency on the line.
What if Chicago didn't have the winning bid? Wouldn't that be a blow to his and the U.S.'s image, especially since Obama is so popular globally compared with his predecessor?
Also, the president had initially said he wasn't going to go because he needed to focus on getting the massive health-care overhaul through Congress.
But with the leaders of other nations with cities bidding for the games attending, as well as the pressure coming from Chicago being his hometown, the pull was too great for the president not to go.
So he did, making as brief a trip as possible, four hours on the ground, 14 in the air.
If he hadn't and Chicago failed to get the games, questions would have long lingered as to whether his non-appearance fatally harmed the bid.
The president would've also angered a lot of people in his adopted city, particularly a big ally, Mayor Richard M. Daley, and maybe many Americans beyond. It's never good for a politician to upset his political allies and base when that's easily avoided.
To a degree, Obama didn't have much of a choice. He had to go.
Now that Chicago's bid failed in the first round, Obama can at least say his hands are clean. He did his best.
There may be a political silver lining to this for the president. Some of his critics have held his popularity overseas it against him. He can now point to this as proof that he has no Svengali hold on world opinion.
The president has at times also come off as a tad cold and arrogant to some observers. This is a humbling moment for him which very well may help him in the end.
Still, it looks like Copenhagen will be a challenging city for Obama this year. He may have to return in December for the United Nations climate change talks to lobby for a treaty which seems very far away at the moment and much more difficult to achieve than winning a bid to host the Olympic games.
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