Will Healthcare reform kill Chicagos Olympic hopes?

President Obama announced today that he won't be going to Copenhagen for the final Olympic bid presentations because he needs to be in Washington to work on healthcare reform:

I would make the case in Copenhagen personally, if I weren't so firmly committed to making -- making real the promise of quality, affordable health care for every American

(source)

Olympic President Jacques Rogge confirmed that Obama had told him he wasn't coming.

Instead Obama is sending his wife Michelle. While Michelle is certainly extremely popular, she's not the President.

In a bidding process where no front runner has emerged, it's any city's game. Even Rogge admits the winning margin will probably be just a few votes. A few votes that the President's mere presence could garner, that the First Lady's probably won't.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times:

It's this simple. The bottom-line message to President Obama from Mayor Daley and the 2016 Chicago Olympics contingent at the White House Wednesday: If Obama doesn't personally pitch Chicago's bid in Copenhagen next month, we will lose it!

But the Huffington Post points out he's in pretty much a no-win situation. He looks bad if he goes for ignoring healthcare reform but also looks bad if he stays and Chicago loses by just a few votes. As much as I want healthcare reform, I wish he'd go.

Maybe he can use his Jedi mind trick on the judges all the way from Washington.