Oprah To Wine & Dine IOC

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Apr 3, 2009 8:40PM

With a police picket and an anti-Olympics protest happening, you'd think city officials would be sweating how this all appears to the visiting IOC evaluation commission. And while they may be sweating a bit, they're pulling out all the stops to drown out the shouting and they've appealed to as high an authority as one can in Chicago: Oprah. On Monday, the IOC commission will dine with Oprah, an event which will also feature videotaped appearances by President Obama and Michael Jordan. Chicago 2016 Vice Chairman Mike Roberts said, "When you think about who're really leading this bid, you think about our president. You have the greatest mayor in America. You have the most influential person in the world, if you will, and that's Oprah Winfrey. She will be part of our dinner Monday night." We can think of at least one thing he got wrong. [Tribune]