Mayor Daley is Number One in Chicago

Mayor Daley doesn't need to fend off allegations of Obama cronyism while he continues to wrestle with the City budget

DALEY NEWS

The media is abuzz with speculation about how the Obama presidency will affect Chicago. At the center of it all is Mayor Daley who will either be the puppetmaster that pulls Obama's strings or the old-guard politician who will become irrelevant in the Age of Obama. The two opinions are summed up thusly:

Chicago Tribune's story is a vote for Daley remaining in charge. The feelings of Colonel McCormick's paper can be no clearer than when they point out the following:

"The architect of Obama's U.S. Senate campaign and his presidential bid was David Axelrod, the same consultant who has served as Daley's political strategist since 1989. Rahm Emanuel, Obama's choice to be White House chief of staff, began his political life as a fundraiser for Daley."

On the other side of the coin, the Progressive side, we have Ben Jarovsky of the Chicago Reader. Ben writes:

"This week Slate ran an article asking 'Can President Obama say no to Mayor Daley?' To which I say: You’ve got to be kidding."

Meanwhile, Mayor Daley has a full plate in dealing with the gaping hole in the City budget. Seems there is some disagreement over the Mayor's proposal. The question being asked is: are the Mayor's revenue projections overly optimistic? In the current economic climate, can the City really count on the revenue being promised? A clue is given in the story by Budget Director Bennett Johnson:

"I believe these are conservative revenue estimates," Johnson replied. But he quickly qualified that statement: "There's no way I can say we are not going to be in the same place next year."

DALEY CHATTER

I leave this part up to you dear readers. Please comment below regarding what role you feel Mayor Daley's will or will not have once Senator Obama becomes President Obama.

Photo by metroblossom

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I think there is a lot of middle-ground between "puppetmaster" and "irrelevant" that is likely closer to the truth.

Thank you very much for the comment! Please keep them coming. I'd love the discussion on the Mayor to occur here, not elsewhere :-)

JS is no doubt right on point. While Mayor Daley is a formidable presence in the politics of Chicago and the Democratic party, Obama has run his whole campaign promising to break away from the traditions of cronyism. However, I do suspect (possibly even expect) that there will be some perks to having a Chicagoan in the White House, even if that is only part of a larger focus on Urban politics.

RJ, I agree. I think it will be a constant struggle for President Obama. Thanks for your very well-thought out comment. I hope to see you back here and posting in the future.

Ben Jarovsky generally writes a good piece, but this Slate article made little sense. He seems to assert that Daley and Obama can't be chummy because Daley got along so well with Bush and the feds of the last 8 years. Daley got along with those at the federal level in the hope they would throw dollars his way. That is what all mayors do. It will be no different with Obama. The mayor will not have the president there at his beckon call, but you can bet Chicago's dancing for federal dollars will continue and having a Chicagoan in the highest office in the land won't hurt.

Chuck, that's an excellent comment. I happen to agree with you. You're very astute in saying that all Mayors try to get federal money. And, after all, is it only Mayors that try to grab federal money any way they know how? ;-)

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