chicagodads

Need some proof that Obama is not from the Chicago political machine? Did you watch the debates? Good, now recall or cue up any Chicago politician, especially our beloved Mayor Quimby-Daley. Notice any resemblance at all? Rambling, repeating, enraged, frantic finger-pointing (not that Obama wasn’t being entirely gracious with McCain, but at least he backed it up with facts/history), blame on the media. Those are trademarks of a Chicago pol. Obama is not part of that tradition.

Nor really of any other tradition that I can think of. As hinted yesterday, the relationship between Barack Obama and Richard M. Daley probably most closely resembles the relationship between Adlai Stevenson and Richard J. Daley - only in reverse. Daley has his share of enemies and tends toward the “friend of mine enemy is mine enemy” route. And Obama came up under some enemies of Daley. Rich was always weary of Barack anyway. Though the one never directly challenged the other, neither endorsed the other either. Daley only gave a lukewarm embrace of Obama during his Senate and Presidential races because it’s clear that Obama is a hometown golden boy and not allying himself with that kind of power in this region would be dangerous and would erode at some of the boss’s power bases - most specifically the African-American vote.

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