Geraghty’s spot on. There’s no way The One would risk his political capital on a personal appeal in Denmark unless he’d been assured that Chicago will get the games if he makes a cameo. It’s a done deal; the only question is who approached whom. I think the IOC probably forced his hand: Given the terrible optics of the trip plus the fact that, as Geraghty reminds us, Obama said as recently as two weeks ago that he wouldn’t go himself, he had every incentive to avoid this — unless the IOC sweetened the pot by promising him the games if he showed up. Once they did that, he had no choice. Imagine the public’s reaction if he stayed home and the games were awarded to another country, and then someone at the IOC leaked the fact that he’d been told that Chicago would have been the pick if he’d taken a day out of his schedule for a little gladhanding in Denmark. Everyone who’s dumping on him right now for going would be dumping on him then for not going, and he surely knows it. I can just picture the angry blog posts estimating the number of jobs and total revenue lost to Chicago because its favorite son wouldn’t get on a plane. The IOC made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Well played, chumps!

Via Breitbart, here’s Gibbs doing his best to explain the reason for the trip without explaining the real reason for the trip. Smart exit question from smart lefty Michael Roston: Given the metaphysical certainty that there’ll be massive corruption involved in Chicago’s handling of the games and the equal certainty that righty blogs like this one will rub The One’s face in it, how bright was it of him to get involved in this in the first place?