President Obama in Copenhagen to sell Chicago's Olympic bid?
Borrrrrinng.
After all, everyone knows what he's going to say.
A lot of "stir the soul" kind of stuff.
But Tom Tresser in Copenhagen to oppose the bid?
Now we have intrigue!
Tresser is one of the founders of No Games Chicago, the lead group on the other side of what passes for debate in Chicago. He and two other members of No Games Chicago have formed their own delegation and are already in Copenhagen preparing for . . . something.
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No Games Chicago isn't disclosing what it plans to do to derail the bid.
They won't even disclose where they are staying.
“When you’re in a foreign country and when you have the president and the mayor aligned against you, you want to be cautious," Tresser told the Sun-Times.
The same trio went to Switzerland in June when the bid cities made their final presentations to the IOC - and Mayor Daley offered up that infamous blank check.
"We are in the economy class of the wide body B767-300 three cabin jet," Tresser wrote at the time on the Huffington Post. "Two classes in front of us are the senior staff of the 2016 Chicago Committee, including CEO Lori Healey. They are ensconced in pod-like capsules with reclining seats and private televisions."
They stayed at a Holiday Inn 20 miles outside of Geneva. Tresser slept in a walk-in closet because "someone" snored so badly.
The trip to Copenhagen is in a simliar vein.
"We didn’t come on a chartered jet and we’re not wearing clothes designed by the First Lady’s dress maker," Tresser writes at "Live From Copenhagen!" blog. No TV crews saw us off and none will welcome us back. We did grassroots fund raising up the last moment to pay for the trip."
They also brought the facts - admittedly a poor counterweight to Obama's emotional appeal.
"Our purpose then and now is to take a simple message to the members of the IOC – the people of Chicago do not want the 2016 Olympics," Tresser writes. "84% of them, according to a recent poll conducted by the Chicago Tribune. 45% don’t want the games under any circumstances and 84% don’t want public funds used for the party. Since the city has already spent or committed over $240 million for the games . . . that threshold has already been crossed."
Now we'll see if the IOC can identify who is the real community organizer from Chicago.
Steve Rhodes is the proprietor of The Beachwood Reporter, a Chicago-centric news and culture review.
