Obama May Risk Prestige to Boost Chicago’s Bid to Host Olympics

Bloomberg reports:

President Barack Obama is weighing a trip to the International Olympic Committee’s Oct. 2 meeting in Copenhagen to make a closing argument that his hometown of Chicago should host the 2016 Summer Games.

The trip would mark a rare example of a U.S. president using his prestige abroad to attract an event with billions of dollars in construction, tourism and advertising at stake. Chicago is competing with Madrid, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro.

The timing may be difficult politically because an October trip would mean Obama is out of the country just as Congress is likely to be debating his domestic priority, a health-care overhaul that could affect 17 percent of the economy. It also carries the risk he could return without delivering a victory.