William Daley and The Chicago Way
OK, so now President Barack Obama (D) has a new chief of staff; a man from middle America (Chicago), a man from the business world (JPMorgan Chase, prior to that SBC), a man who, as the brother of the current Chicago mayor and the son of another, really knows politics. And now all will be well in the world of the presidency and bipartisanship and getting things done.
Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass quickly demolishes these gooey myths--and some of the ones about Obama as well--explaining the significance of the Daley appointment and other comings and goings around Obama and even in Chicago.
Don't ask about Billy at Fannie Mae and his little buddy Rahm at Freddie Mac in the 1990s, or how that huge SBC deal went through in Illinois in 2003 when Billy was SBC president.Don't ask about those meetings back in Chicago, in the early 1990s, when Billy and family adviser Tim Degnan and others helped create those City Hall patronage armies - which were later involved in illegal hiring - to keep Rich Daley in power and elect allies like Emanuel to Congress.
And for Pete's sake, never ask about the Chicago Way.
Because if you do the ugly truth will disillusion you. Frighten you even. Remember, 50 years ago William's father saw to it that his fellow Irish-Catholic, John F. Kennedy, became president, no matter the real election results that the press never questioned in their continuing Kennedy adoration. 2012 is in just two years.
The Chicago Way continues.