I have to admit, if he manages to STFU about health care during this pitch I might not find it so objectionable.

There’s plenty to keep the president occupied at the White House.

Overnight, Iran tested middle-range missiles, raising the stakes of international crisis a few days before Tehran’s first sit-down talks with U.S. officials. At home, the healthcare-reform initiative that the president has touted as the critical benchmark of his first year in office also faces a key week.

But the White House announced this morning that President Obama, who calls Chicago home, has decided to jet to Copenhagen overnight Thursday, arriving in time to deliver an in-person pitch Friday morning for the city’s bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics. He’ll be back Friday night.

When Defense Secretary Gates said he was going to sit on Gen. McChrystal’s request for more troops until the president got around to considering it he must have known that all of this important stuff was on the horizon.

The high-level pitch is the first for an American president but not unprecedented for world leaders. In fact, it seems to be the new de facto requiring for a successful bid. British Prime Minister Tony Blair sealed the deal in landing the 2012 Olympics for London. Ditto Russian President Vladimir Putin in securing the 2014 Winter Games for Sochi.

Thank God, I didn’t get my fill of “Let’s be exactly like everyone else!” shoved down my throat last week.