Now That He's Going, Obama Better Win

In the sporting parlance he knows so well, Barack Obama has accepted a road game in a hostile environment. You wouldn't think of Copenhagen as such, knowing the Danish city as a clean, environmentally friendly Eurohub filled with wellness spas, romantic nooks, beer-stained bodegas, peace on earth and a corny old song that goes, "wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen." But when Obama arrives Friday to sell his hometown, Chicago, as the 2016 Summer Olympics site, he'd better be bringing his brass knuckles.

Because Brazil wants his blood.

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And considering how his big-picture agenda remains in a hazy limbo -- does anybody really know what's going on with health care reform, the economy and Afghanistan? -- I suggest he not return to American soil with anything less than a victory. Put it this way: As a rookie, he has too many no-decisions so far and needs a win badly to pacify some restless natives; if he loses, well, it's an embarrassment of sorts to his country and his city, particularly after traveling overseas to state his case.

In becoming the first U.S. president to attend an International Olympic Committee meeting in an attempt to win the Games, Obama does improve Chicago's chances of winning perhaps the closest election ever. The IOC voters, stuffy worms who like to feel important, are thrilled to have a rock star in their midst and might be charmed enough to vote American.

Member Ottavio Cinquanta of Italy told the Chicago Tribune: "The impact of his presence in the Chicago delegation is not multiplied by double. This impact can be multiplied by 25." He isn't the only one with goo-goo eyes, I should note.

"Obama has done a tremendous amount in Europe and elsewhere to turn around the perception of the United States, to be perceived as somebody completely open to the world as opposed to completely closed," the ubiquitous and influential Richard Pound, an IOC voter from Canada, told USA Today.

But it also was curious to hear the reaction of Peter Tallberg, a voting member from Finland. "The IOC," he told the Tribune, "is the most unpredictable group of human beings in the world." So true, so true. These human beings have been known in the past to accept bribes, for instance, which you'd think would put Chicago in the driver's seat given its long history of backroom politicking and dirty political pool. Yet the kickbacks that clinched bids for Atlanta in 1996 and Salt Lake City in 2002 no longer are welcome, or so the IOC poohbahs claim, meaning Chicago will need all the Obama Power it can muster to edge Rio de Janeiro for the right to sock local taxpayers with a fat bill in seven years.

What we never fathomed is that the competition, to be held in the Bella Centre in the Danish capital, should be staged in a steel cage. It took all of an hour after Obama announced his plan to lobby in person, flip-flopping on his previous stance, for Brazilian bid leaders to start ... trash-talking? You may have heard of Pele, the soccer legend. Seems Pele has been spending the week dissing the Obama factor. I can just hear the question on Around The Horn: "Who do you got in this one, Barack or Pele?"

"Rio doesn't compete with Obama. We are competing against Madrid, against Tokyo, against Chicago," Pele said Tuesday. "If they have Obama, we have Lula, we have Pele ... Rio doesn't have any problems. The city, the economy is very good. The only country that didn't suffer with the [financial crisis] is Brazil."

The IOC voters, stuffy worms who like to feel important, are thrilled to have a rock star in their midst and might be charmed enough to vote American.Lula, for the record, is Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. He not only talks tough, he makes predictions. "This is a fight," said Broadway Lula, adding, "I think we're going to return from Copenhagen with a victory." Silva apparently is upset, along with Rio 2016 organizers, because they believe Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley has been badmouthing Rio. When asked if the competition's Olympic bid would be enhanced by hosting the 2014 World Cup, the kind of global colossus that has eluded inexperienced Chicago, Daley voiced one of his loosey-goosey opinions that work well on his city's South Side but not in prim-and-proper settings. "I don't think so. The World Cup is completely different than the Olympics," Daley said. "That's all soccer stadiums, it's completely different. They don't have all the other events there that we have."

In IOC circles, criticizing another city publicly is considered taboo. You can say all you want in a dark nightclub at 3 AM, with an IOC voter across the table, but the Rio 2016 bid chairman took offense at Daley's tweak and suggested that he be reported to the IOC ethics commission. "It is not on myself to make any comment about the mayor of Chicago," Carlos Nuzman told reporters at a news conference. Whether an official protest was filed or not -- and I doubt it -- the idea was to plant a seed that Chicago isn't playing fair. Of course, Silva hardly is playing fair when he tells a French wire service that he and the King of Spain have a deal: Whichever city is eliminated first, Madrid or Rio, will promise its voting allegiance to the city that advances.

Steel cage? We need an Octagon.

"I have no comment," said Chicago 2016 chairman Patrick Ryan, who told the Chicago Tribune that Daley's comments were misinterpreted. "I think the mayor did not intend to offend anybody, and I don't believe he really did say anything critical. If someone filed a complaint about it, that's their business. There are things we probably could have lobbed in and said something about, but to me that's not what this is all about. We have not filed any complaints ... The facts are, he [Daley] is a very fair competitor. In the heat of competition, maybe people think they should complain about something. We're not doing that."

Back home, Daley isn't seen as a fair competitor when judged by his various scandals in office. He now knows, days before the announcement, that the Rio folks will be relentless. When asked about Obama's presence at the meetings, Nuzman said, "This changes absolutely nothing. This changes nothing." Yet isn't it interesting how the Brazilians have adopted one of Obama's very campaign slogans for their own purposes?

Said Sergio Cabral Filho, governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro: "As he asked the American people, we are now asking members of the IOC. Yes we can, yes we can, hold the Olympics in South America."

This is the same Silva who was described by Obama last spring as "the most popular politician on earth." So he, too, is a schmoozer. Yet he also has a city with a high crime rate that doesn't offer the security of Chicago, which is relatively safe in the downtown and waterfront areas around which the Games would be centered. Rio's advantage is the intrigue of awarding South America with its first-ever Olympics. It also has received a high support ratio from the city's population, contrary to Chicago, which lost some of its community zeal when Daley's original promise of a privately paid Games predictably turned into a taxpayer burden. Down to basics, Chicago can make the most money in 2016, while Rio can offer the best emotional story and exotic backdrop.

Business vs. pleasure, you might say.

I remember Obama as a no-name Illinois politician five years ago. Now, let's see if he's as mighty as advertised, if he truly can sway finicky people who still may not be crazy about the United States of America. He wisely realized he can't resolve the health care issue in a day -- his original explanation for why he wasn't attending the meetings -- and will spend about six hours in Denmark. In the interim, much of the groundwork is being laid by his wife, Michelle, and a pack of celebrities and Olympians that includes Oprah Winfrey. How funny to hear the first lady relate her own trash-talking story, revealing what she said to Silva's wife last week at the G-20 economic summit in Pittsburgh.

"I adore her," Mrs. Obama said. "But I said, 'I'm going to hug you now -- and then I'm going after you in Copenhagen.' And she said, 'You too.' "

At least the president doesn't fear failure. He's better off heading to Copenhagen and losing than staying away and losing. "You're darned if you do, and you're darned if you don't. I'd rather be on the side of doing it," said Michelle Obama, who will meet with IOC members Wednesday and Thursday before Friday's presentations. "One conversation or one example or illustration that connects could make the difference."

It worked for Tony Blair when London won the 2012 Games. It worked for Vladimir Putin when Sochi, Russia, won the 2014 Games. Will it work for the Obamas? "I don't think London would have won if Tony and Cherie Blair hadn't been in Singapore for a couple of days, and Sochi certainly wouldn't have won if Putin hadn't come and carried the day," Pound said. "And with close elections, you don't have to move many votes to go from second to finishing first or vice versa."

So let the trash talking begin. "The gloves are off. It's a battle," the first lady said. "We're going to win. Take no prisoners."

Forget Oprah. Where's Brock Lesnar?