President Obama walks with senior adviser Valerie Jarrett to the Oval Office
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By deciding to travel to Copenhagen, Obama has opened himself to two political dangers. Much of the focus thus far has been on the diplomatic peril: It could come as a harsh setback for the world's most influential leader to find himself rebuffed by a 2016 Olympic award to Rio de Janeiro or Tokyo. But even if Obama is successful, he faces a long-term danger of being associated with any potential mismanagement, overspending or outright corruption that occurs over the next seven years in the run-up to the Games.
On Monday, Gibbs said that Obama is confident that the city of Chicago, which has been plagued by what prosecutors have described as a "pay to play" culture, can responsibly oversee the multibillion-dollar building project. "Not only is he [confident], but [so] is the U.S. Olympic Committee that picked Chicago over [other] cities," Gibbs said.
Under the plan put forward by the Chicago 2016 committee, as described in a report by L.E.K. Consulting, the city council would play a major role in making sure the billions of dollars for new Olympic facilities are spent appropriately. This may be an ambitious goal; since 1971, 30 members of the Chicago city council have been sent to jail, largely as a result of corruption investigations. In a sign of the incestuous nature of Chicago politics, L.E.K — which concluded that taxpayers would be mostly protected under the Olympic plan — disclosed in its report that it is seeking a major city contract for concessions at O'Hare International Airport. (Any potential conflict was dismissed as irrelevant by the Civic Federation, which requested the report.) "Historically, the city council hasn't had a great record of transparency," says Valerie Leonard, a community activist in Chicago's North Lawndale neighborhood, which would host cycling events if Chicago wins the bid. "I don't have confidence that's going to change."
The larger Chicago 2016 advisory committee — which has hundreds of members, including celebrities like Michael Jordan — is also populated with a number of close friends and major supporters of Obama's presidential campaign. The personal friends include Eric Whitaker, who works at the University of Chicago Hospitals, Michelle Obama's former employer, and who has been a frequent visitor at the White House. The group also includes several members of two of Chicago's wealthiest and most supportive families, the Pritzkers and the Crowns, heirs to the General Dynamics company. Both families were early supporters of Obama's political career.
The city council and the bid committee have thus far rebuffed efforts to require the Olympic committee's work to be subject to freedom of information requests, according to the University of Chicago's Sanderson. Nor has there been any action on Sanderson's proposal to ban members of the advisory committee from seeking Olympic contracts. One bid-committee member, Michael Scott, has served as a consultant for one of the developers that is vying to build the $1.2 billion Olympic Village. Scott has also consulted on a condominium project near the proposed location of the village, though he has denied to the Chicago Tribune any conflict of interest or financial gain.
But as the President prepares to depart for Denmark, his advisers say he does not share those concerns. Obama is scheduled to leave for Denmark late Thursday, make his case in private and public meetings with IOC members on Friday, and then board his plane to return to Washington just hours before voting on the host city begins.
— With reporting by Sean Gregory / Chicago