WASHINGTON (AFP) –
The White House on Tuesday mocked Republican attacks on President Barack Obama's trip to Copenhagen this week to play a starring role in Chicago's final 2016 Olympic presentation.

Some Obama critics, including Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele, have accused the president of neglecting domestic and foreign crises to fly to Copenhagen ahead of Friday's vote on the venue of the 2016 Summer Games.

Chicago is locked in a pitched battle with Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo for the right to host the global sporting extravaganza.

"Who's he rooting for?" White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said, when told of Steele's remarks.

"Is he hoping to hop a plane to Brazil and catch the Olympics in Rio? I don't know. Maybe it's Madrid."

Earlier, in a conference call with reporters, Steele said it was noble of Obama to go to Denmark on behalf of his native "Chi-town" but that the president had other pressing business to attend to.

"I think at a time of war, I think at a time of recession, at a time where Americans have expressed rather significantly their concerns and frustrations.... I think that this trip, while nice, is not necessary for the president," Steele said.

"The goal should be creating, not job opportunities seven years from now, but job opportunities today."

"And I think that what the president is doing is not necessarily helpful and does not, in my view, instill the confidence in the American people that the focus is there on jobs, wealth creation and moving us beyond recession to prosperity."

Obama's trip is unlikely to take too much time out of his packed schedule. He will leave Washington Thursday night for Denmark, arriving on Friday morning hours before Chicago is set to make its final presentation.

After giving a speech, he is set to return straight home.