Daley illness evidence of our cynicism?

I shouldn’t be shocked at the level of cynicism that crops up when our political people – or even ex-pols – become ill.

DALEY, M.: In recovery?

Former Mayor Richard M. Daley spent the past weekend at Northwestern Memorial Hospital suffering from what some are saying are stroke-like symptoms (although no one will come right out and say the 71-year-old suffered a stroke).

YET WHEN ONE turns to the Internet to see the ramblings of those people who insist on posting anonymous tidbits, there are more than those share of people who are convinced this is some sort of plot.

Daley is trying to avoid criminal prosecution in the future. For what, those people don’t specify. But I literally found one individual who says that this illness is fake – and is meant to provide cover in the form of him being able to testify under oath that he doesn’t remember anything about whatever it is that he is accused in the future of doing.

I’m not saying that there aren’t people professionally ambitious enough to try to prosecute a case that dredges up some past action of government during the Daley administration.

I’m sure there are people who would like Daley to suffer legal consequences for the mess that was made of our parking meters! There are times when I could be counted amongst them.

BUT PEOPLE WHO are taking Daley’s physical condition and trying to score politics are just striking me as being a bit too callous to take seriously.

Even though I’ll agree with those who think that there’s something funky about the amount of time it has taken to get a diagnosis – or that some of the details we have heard don’t seem to be fleshed out.

DALEY, J.: Died while in office

This is a story that is most definitely incomplete. While I comprehend that Daley is no longer a public official (he chose retirement in 2011, rather than dying as mayor like his father, Richard J., or at his desk like Harold Washington), there is still enough interest in him for people to want to know what happened when he supposedly became disoriented Friday while attending a legal conference in Arizona.

Because Daley is who he is, he got rushed back to Chicago – rather than trusting a Phoenix-area hospital to deal with his condition.

I WILL ADMIT to being amused by the fact that he was hospitalized the same day that his nephew, R.J. Vanecko, pleaded guilty and got that 60-day county jail sentence for his involvement in the death of a young man a decade ago.

WASHINGTON: Died literally in office

Mainly because Daley aides felt compelled to immediately say that word of his nephew’s legal predicament had nothing to do with his medical condition. Which is what many people would have presumed, had nothing been said.

It makes me wonder what statement is being concocted for dissemination on Tuesday – which is the day that both the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times newspapers say will be when a 162-page special prosecutor’s report on Vanecko’s case will be made public.

Will somebody be a little too eager to find some physical downtown for Daley that occurs Tuesday, then try to make a connection?

OF COURSE, ALL of this brings back memories of Daley’s father, who himself suffered a stroke a couple of years before his death in December 1976. He recovered, and actually got re-elected to his final term in office as a result.

Daley, by comparison, is now an attorney who doesn’t have the stress of running for any office. His time in public policy is past.

Unless some people are determined to use this incident to somehow dredge him back into the public eye.

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Was that really so difficult?

It was encouraging to learn Tuesday that Sen. Mark Kirk’s recovery from a stroke he suffered earlier this year is progressing well.

The senator these days, in an image provided by his staff

I found it particularly interesting that Kirk will be participating in a research trial at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago during the next several weeks that is meant to improve his gait pattern (ie., the way he walks).

SOMEHOW, I SUSPECT the old Navy guy in Kirk will respond well to being challenged with a daily regimen of continuous walking over flat surfaces, on stairs and on a treadmill.

All of this is based off information provided by Kirk’s Senate staff, which provided an update to the Illinois Republican’s website on Tuesday to give us a three-paragraph statement from Dr. Richard L. Harvey, who is director of the Institute’s Center for Stroke Rehabilitation.

In that statement, we learn that Kirk has managed to walk just over 10 miles total since his stroke. Which is about as much as many of us manage to walk in a week.

But considering what Kirk endured, I’d say it’s a great accomplishment.

IF ANYTHING, SEEING this statement, along with a link providing more information about the research trial that Kirk will endure in the near future, was encouraging.

For his personal sake, he’s making progress toward recovery. For professional sake, we the people who elected him to a six-year term that runs through early 2017 have a right to know that only the most politically partisan amongst us should be thinking of trying to pick a replacement for him.

While I personally would be surprised to see him anywhere in Washington, D.C. anytime during the 2012 calendar year, it would seem for the long-run that we still have the senator whom a majority of the Illinois electorate picked two years ago.

And since he is in nearly daily contact with his staff, it would seem that they truly are acting on his behalf and with his instruction. We don’t have some rogue staffer playing “senator” with his boss’ title.

THE ONLY QUESTION I really have is, “Why did it have to take so much squabbling in order to get this kind of information.”

For it is pretty clear that the senator’s staff used their website to get this word out, largely to shut up that segment of the public that was starting to construct all kinds of conspiracy theories about the lack of health-related data concerning Kirk’s condition.

Considering that in the days right after Kirk suffered his stroke, he and his staff were very forthcoming about what was happening.

Then, we got week upon week of nothing. Which really did have some people starting to think that something was being covered up. (I’m sure some will still think these details from Tuesday are a lie, but some people are just determined to believe the worst, and should probably be disregarded by the masses).

LIKE I WROTE earlier, I expect Kirk to undergo a lengthy recovery process. We all realize that. I’m also fairly confident that to the degree it is possible for one man to do so, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., is handling the interests of Illinois residents in the U.S. Senate.

I don’t think we’re being neglected that much – even though in recent days there have been news reports about how lacking in influence and charisma the Illinois congressional delegation is now, compared to past years.

I know some people have argued that Kirk should be allowed to recover in peace. Yet I’d argue that we elected Kirk to a public post on our behalf. I have no problem with him taking all the time he needs to recover. The political post will still be there when he’s ready to return.

He just needs to open up with the details so we know how long the wait is and so that the "conspiracy theory" types can find something else to obsess about. Just like he did on Tuesday, and hopefully will continue to do so while his recovery process continues.

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