A DAY IN THE LIFE (of Chicago): Former Lottery chief now social secretary

While most people were paying attention to President-elect Barack Obama on Monday because of his Treasury Department appointments, the one that caught my eye was his choice of a social secretary.

The woman who will be in charge of the staff that coordinates social engagements in the Obama-run White House will be Desiree Rogers, the one-time Illinois Lottery director under former Gov. Jim Edgar.

ROGERS, IN RECENT years, was working for Allstate Financial as manager of social networking, and had also been president of Peoples Gas for several years.

But the political stint that set up her ability to draw these corporate gigs was her six years as director of the Illinois Department of the Lottery. Which is an official way of saying she ran the modern-day (and completely legal) equivalent of the old “numbers” racket.

Rogers was in charge of the state agency that managed the lottery in a way that made it seem glamorous and fun and a path toward achieving dreams, rather than just some flaky games with near-impossible odds by which people who least could afford it were throwing away their last dollar to buy a “chance” at getting rich quick.

I can remember being a reporter for the now-defunct City News Bureau of Chicago who covered Lottery press conferences featuring some of the tawdriest people who could be found by Central Casting, only to be staged by Rogers and her staff in ways that made their stories sound like the “American Dream” come true.

IF IT SOUNDS like I’m saying that Rogers is an expert at presenting fantasy, then perhaps she is perfectly qualified for the job of coordinating the details by which the Obama White House becomes a magical place (think JFK’s “Camelot,” only 21st Century and more urban), instead of the setting for a presidency that is getting hit with an unpopular war and devastating economic struggles on Day One.

One bit of irony strikes me in the appointment. Back in the day when Rogers was a state agency director, her husband was John Rogers, an executive with Ariel Capital Management who back then had his own political appointment with the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (McCormick Place and Navy Pier). Now, he’s one of three Chicago-oriented co-chairs of the committee coordinating the inauguration festivities.

If someone had told me some 15 years ago that we would someday have an African-American couple from Chicago living in the White House, I would have guessed it would be the Rogers, with their long-time friends, Barack and Michelle, being brought along to work on their White House staff.

What else was notable about the news of the world, as perceived from the World’s Greatest City on the shores of Lake Michigan (and don’t say Milwaukee).

HOOVER ELEMENTARY WAS SLOW ON THE DRAW: So much for the suburban Calumet City school that wanted to be the first in the nation to rename itself for Obama. Ludlum Elementary School in Hempstead, N.Y., will get that “honor.”

Officials with the Hoover-Shrum School District had wanted to rename their elementary school from honoring former president Herbert Hoover to Obama. Officials in the district had implied they wanted the first “Obama School” in the nation to be an Illinois school.

But while Calumet City school officials were trying to build up support, officials with the New York-based school district just up and went and adopted the new name.

This could just be the start of a trend to rename thinks for Barack. Some reports note that officials in Antigua want to rename their Caribbean island nation’s mountain from Boggy Peak to Mount Obama.

SINCE WHEN IS A SENATE SEAT AN X-MAS GIFT?: Gov. Rod Blagojevich may be trying to insert some levity into the oh-so-serious debate about a U.S. Senate replacement for Barack Obama, but is it really appropriate for him to think of his appointment as a “Christmas gift” to some Illinois politico?

That’s how he referred to his yet-to-be-made decision about picking an Obama replacement, for which he has had some talks with political people interested in the post. And he reportedly had a telephone conversation with Illinois’ other U.S. senator – Richard Durbin – Monday afternoon.

Considering how many people around Illinois seem offended that Blagojevich has any say in the replacement (Illinois law lets him make the pick, based on whatever criteria he thinks is relevant), it is mistaken for Blagojevich to even joke about the Senate position as though it is his to grant, rather than a position of responsibility to the people of Illinois.

Of course, there’s one thing tackier. That was seeing Blagojevich and the Illinois first family taking part Monday in ceremonies at the Thompson Center state government building to light the state’s official Christmas tree. Couldn’t they wait until Friday, after Thanksgiving, rather than join the masses who are stretching the holiday season out way too long.

WE’RE NUMBER TWO?!?: I’m still trying to figure out the logic of the Chicago White Sox shelling out a few million dollars to break their lease to have spring training in Tuscon, Ariz.

The White Sox were sharing a fairly new stadium complex with the Arizona Diamondbacks for pre-season workouts and exhibition games, but now will go to Glendale, Ariz., where they will share a brand-new stadium complex with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

As I comprehend it, the White Sox are moving to a suburb of Phoenix along with nearly a dozen other major league teams. Travel expenses and details will be minimal, compared to when they trained in Tuscon – about a two-hour bus ride from most other teams they would play in Cactus League activity. Either way, the White Sox wind up being the “number two team” in their own spring training park.

One bit of historic irony in the move – the Arizona Cardinals football team play their games in a stadium in Glendale. Back in the days when they were the Chicago Cardinals representing the Sout’ Side in the NFL, they played their games at the White Sox’ Comiskey Park.

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Aren’t we getting ahead of ourselves with talk of renaming school for Obama?

He has nearly two months to go before he is officially sworn in as president, yet there are some who are all too quick to want to pay brick-and-mortar tribute to the presidency of Barack Obama.

I can appreciate the simple fact that a man of his biracial background was able to get elected says wonders about this nation’s progress, but really people. Don’t you think we ought to wait to see how long of a political “honeymoon” he gets before we start thinking about permanent tributes?

PEOPLE IN SOUTH suburban Calumet City who are urging officials to study the renaming of an elementary school for Obama are letting their sense of post-Election Day glee get the best of them.

Specifically, the school board that oversees Hoover Elementary School is looking into a local resident’s demand that the building be called Obama Academy. Supporters of the change argue that Hoover (as in Herbert, not the vacuum cleaner) is too old a historic figure to be relevant to today’s youth.

They told the Times of Northwest Indiana newspaper they think children would respond positively to being able to say they go to “Obama School.”

Those area residents, at least one of whom was an Obama campaign worker, say they are e-mailing just about every government official they can think of from the U.S. Senate to the Illinois House to quite possibly Gov. Rod Blagojevich, all in hopes of gaining public sympathy for the concept of a school named for Obama.

THESE SUPPORTERS TOLD the Munster, Ind.-based newspaper that an Illinois-based school ought to be the first to pay tribute to the first U.S. president who doesn’t view African origins as a reason for feeling shame (by that, I mean think of how Thomas Jefferson’s relatives feel every time the name “Sally Hemmings” comes up in conversation).

Now I won’t be surprised to see the day some decades from now when I’m a crotchety old man yelling at kids to get off my lawn when there will be Obama statues, schools, bridges and public parks.

The fact that I will be able to say I saw the man in action and actually first met him when he was just an anonymous politico in the Illinois Senate will be among the quirky stories I tell about my days as a reporter-type person.

But the reason that Obama will be worthy of these public tributes is because of the things he is going to do in the next four (possibly eight) years. In short, we should now be paying close attention to Obama so we can figure out exactly what he will someday be honored for.

TO GIVE HIM a tribute of a school named for him now is nothing more than a trivialization of his reputation.

You’d think that Calumet City residents would have learned from the neighboring school district. While based in suburban Dolton, that district has one school based in Calumet City, and it is named for one-time Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun, D-Ill.

Yes, there is a Braun School in Calumet City, about two miles from the Hoover Elementary School that officials are talking about naming for Obama.

Would this turn into a rivalry over which part of town can give the more garish tribute to a black politico (first black U.S. Senator from Illinois, compared to first biracial president) from Illinois?

AND WHILE I could think of schools with names more trivial than that of Moseley-Braun, how many people these days think that she is really someone worth memorializing with masonry and concrete?

There is one major difference between the two schools. When the Dolton district came up with a school named for Moseley-Braun, it was because they were building a new school facility.

Obama gets an existing building (one that goes back several decades) named for him.

Personally, I’m not enthused about the idea of dumping Herbert Hoover’s name from the building. He was a U.S. president (one whose time in the White House got thoroughly trashed by the Great Depression of the 1930s) in his own right.

IF LOCAL RESIDENTS are correct in saying that the name “Hoover” means little to the current student body, then perhaps that is a demerit on the way in which history and civics are taught at the school.

I’m not out to praise the memory of Hoover. But at a time when the nation’s economy is tanking, perhaps we ought to be remembering the Hoover era all the more. He is not a figure we should forget.

Surely, Obama is paying attention to that time period these days. It has been reported that Obama is focusing on how newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt coped with the depression he inherited when he became president in 1932. Such study also includes attention to the mistakes of Hoover, whose rigid adherence to conservative ideological concepts prevented him from doing much of anything to try to bolster the U.S. economy.

Personally, I have never been a big fan of renaming buildings or parks or monuments. I believe that when something is named to pay tribute to someone, the name should remain until the day the structure is reduced to rubble.

FOR WHATEVER REASON Hoover’s name was placed on that school, it should be respected and kept there. If Calumet City officials want to build a new school and name it for Obama, that might be a worthy goal – although I’d still want to wait a few years before seriously moving ahead with the notion.

There’s a reason why serious tributes wait until after a person’s time in office is complete – and in some cases (such as postage stamps) after a person is deceased. It would be nice to know the exact accomplishments so that a plaque to be erected on the building can be made listing them.

Unless one thinks that a chalkboard is a more appropriate plaque. One could write in a new list of accomplishments every day, letting people know what the building’s namesake is up to.

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EDITOR’S NOTES: One of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign workers wants to (http://nwi.com/articles/2008/11/16/news/illiana/doc1fe18e96980a1f8886257502008261d1.txt) honor her boss by putting his name on an elementary school in her suburban hometown.

There really is an elementary school named for the one-term U.S. senator from Illinois (http://www.schooldistrict149.org/Moseley-Braun/Moseley%20Braun.htm). Will Herbert Hoover (http://www.hsdist157.org/hooverschool/index.html) be able to keep his name on the school that pays tribute to him?