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| The next 'Mayor Daley?' |
NEWS
REPORTS INDICATE that Bill Daley likely will kick off his campaigning for City
Hall come Monday; wanting to be the guy who replaces Rahm Emanuel – who back in
2011 was the guy who replaced his brother, Rich, at the helm of municipal
government.
It
seems that Bill thinks Chicago has gone long enough without a “Mayor Daley” in charge.
The
trick would be to see whether Chicago voters really are that enamored of the
Daley name to send another of the grandchildren of Michael Daley to City Hall –
with Michael being the Irish immigrant father of Richard J. Daley – who rose
high above his Bridgeport neighborhood roots to become the so-called “legendary”
mayor of Chicago.
Of
course, legendary is the polite way some people express the idea of tyrannical –
as in a political boss who ruled with an iron fist for more than two decades
until his death in 1976.
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| Hizzoner's son |
I
REMEMBER SOME speculation eight years ago when Rich Daley chose to retire
following 23 years in office that even he was realistic to accept the notion
that Chicago was tired of the “Mayor Daley” concept and in need of change.
But
could eight years of Emanuel and his own strong-arm style of politics have been
the key to get many establishment-minded Chicagoans ready to return to the idea
of a Daley in charge?
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| Daley who avoided top spot |
Could
the Sout’ Side politicos be ready to reassert themselves as the ones in charge
of Chicago – following eight years of a mayor from the Ravenswood neighborhood?
Not
that Bill Daley is a political amateur. He served at the federal level during
both the Clinton and Obama presidencies. Albeit, as the lesser of the two
presidential chiefs of staff from Chicago that Obama employed. Along with being
the campaign manager who desperately tried to get Al Gore elected president in
2000.
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| Could the Bridgeport alderman be next? |
AND
HIS MOMENT of “glory” during the Clinton years may have been when he was
introduced as the new Commerce secretary – only to pass out unconscious during
the introduction ceremony. Officially, the lights were on so intensely that the
heat got to him.
My
point is that both of these posts presented enough moments where Daley critics
could find reason to ridicule Bill and to claim that he’s not even at the level
of his brother, with neither reaching the stature while in office of their
father.
What
may actually be more significant is that Bill Daley is the guy who has often talked
of wanting to run for political office in the past – most often putting his name
out there as a possible governor of Illinois.
Yet
Bill Daley has always found reasons to back out of actually running, making
some political observers question whether he has what it takes to endure the
gristle of an electoral campaign.
THEN
AGAIN, BILL Daley in the past always talked about wanting to be governor. Perhaps
the desire to run for the top post at City Hall could be what sways him to want
to stay in the campaign all the way through Election Day.
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| It all originates with Dick Daley |
Being
“Mayor Daley III” could sound more important to him than that of “Gov. Daley,”
even though that always had the potential for a political power punch since it could
have resulted in a combination of Mayor Daley (as in Rich) and Gov. Daley (as
in Bill), along with brother John Daley deciding to rise up from his Cook County
Board seat to run for county board President.
A
Daley trifecta, albeit one that would have terrified Illinoisans from outside
of Chicago. But to those who would have been enamored by the idea of so many
Daleys in charge, the idea of Bill Daley being on the ballot for mayor may be a
fantasy come true.
That
is, unless you’re willing to wait a generation for 11th Ward
Alderman Patrick D. (as in Daley) Thompson, a nephew to both Rich and Bill and
grandson to Dick, to make a run for putting the mayoral post back in the Bridgeport
neighborhood.
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