Disclosure:
I'm an overly-proud Chicago-boy who has since moved away to attend college and have been gone for about a decade. I love Chicago, though at times am
disgraced with how things are run in the city. It comes with the territory.
It's a Tuesday in June, and I am in one of the high-ceiling big rooms of the old office building next to the White House.
As I look around the room at the players assembled here -- including this scribe -- I'm thinking that with a few twists of fate, this all-Chicago
gang could be huddling in Mayor Daley's City Hall.
In front of me is Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to President Obama who today is chairing a roundtable marking the 37th anniversary of Title IX,
the sports equity law. Across the room is Arne Duncan, the education secretary.
Seated in the first row is Tina Tchen, director of the White House public engagement office. Leaning against a wall is Susan Sher, chief of staff for
Michelle Obama. In back of me in the vestibule is Daniel Hornung, a graduate of the University of Chicago Lab School who is working this summer for
Jarrett. He is a friend of the daughter of Desiree Rogers, the White House social secretary. Marilyn Katz, a public affairs consultant visiting from
Chicago, is also at the Title IX event.
Jarrett, Sher, Duncan and Tchen were all Daley appointees on boards or in top posts at City Hall, as was Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. David
Axelrod was Daley's political adviser. First lady Michelle Obama worked a stint at City Hall.
The Chicagoans have replaced the Texans in the White House.
In Washington, the relationships among the key players in government are subject to speculation and fascination over whether there is a "Chicago
way" in the six-month-old Obama White House. There is a romanticized notion of Machine politics in the air here, though only remnants of it still
exist in Chicago.
I've wisecracked that there are so many Chicagoans in the Obama administration, it's like covering the 51st Ward. Obama has swept into office with
him dozens of Chicagoans, in all kinds of jobs.
www.suntimes.com...
Whether one is a Chicago Democrat or Republican, the one thing we knew when Barack Obama was elected President...Chicago's place was about to invade
Washington D.C.
But, I remain torn about if this is a good thing.
Corruption, organized crime, and scandals have been synonymous with Chicago politics since its inception. Nothing new. Chicagoans are so used to our
politicians going to prison, we basically snicker and laugh. It has become entertainment.
I can say this--I certainly hope the "Chicago ways" don't become the norm for running this country.
Time will tell.
