Think like Cermak
Eric Krol writes a week makes a big difference.
For Topinka, the cash influx and Fitzgerald letter must be making the race seem more like a downhill run than the uphill climb it appeared to be just a week ago.Good column, but c'mon Eric, yesterday was predictable and probable. Topinka was planning for today... at least I hope so.
Watched Bobbie Steel, Danny Davis, Jackson Sr on TV least night and while Davis still has a voice that thunders, the leading African American Politicians in Cook County look pretty decrepit. I wish Bush could have found some time to swing over and show some support for a guy like Eric Wallace.
Because the reality is the people doing the hiring in Chicago: Sorich, McCarthy, Slattery, and Sullivan aren't African American Democrats. And there was a reason those lists had a column for race and it wasn't about promoting a liberal's diversity in the workplace. Politics is about power and there wasn't much black power energy evident with the aging crowd surrounding Bobbie Steele yesterday.
Fitzgerald may destroy both the Blagojevich and Daley machines this summer creating a huge power vacuum. There's no progressive Democrats to fill this hole. Bush should have torn himself away from that dinner with Daley last night and drove out south to help an African American in the GOP. (Maybe have Tony Perica along for the ride.)
The party isn't going to coast downhill with Topinka as Democrats go down in indictments. It's time to think like Cermak and start building a coalition to seize the day from the chaos going to hit Illinois politics.
7 comments:
Bill, you want President Bush to help an African American Republican in the GOP? The fact that he was having dinner with Daley should be a clue as to where his local priorities are focused. Me, I rather see the President stay at home and put more effort into winning the war in Iraq, stimulating the creation of good-paying jobs, ensuring the availability of decent health care coverage and protecting the environment.
Unemployment at 4.6% in may, 92k new jobs in May, 121k in June, and Josh Marshall would rather out Roskam on Social Security in the 6th than talk about Iraq...
...Bush has some breathing space to help some African American Pols take on the culture of corruption in Cook County.
I remember when only the Panthers talked about the New Slave Masters,
If the handout line of the new slave master is not good for us why do we stay in that line?
Bush should have been raising a few bucks to help Wallace break some lines.
There may not be any progressive Democrats to fill the void, but there certainly is Rich Whitney, the Green Party's candidate for Governor of Illinois!
http://www.whitneyforgov.org/
Bill,
Didn't Pushcart Tony get zipped by Zangarra ( a mentally ill Italian War hero) after a beef with Frank Nitti?
My favorite quote from Mayor Cernak is 'I'm gonna f@#$ them Irish!'
Seemed to get along handsomely with them however.
Pat,
Per Wikpedia:
Before Cermak, the Democratic party in Cook County was run by the "Lace Curtain" Irish, who generally despised everyone who wasn't "Lace Curtain", including the Irish from the Back of the Yards and Bridgeport neighborhoods, who were commonly referred to as "Pig Sh*t" Irish. As Cermak climbed the local political ladder, the resentment of the Lace Curtain group grew. When the bosses rejected his bid to become the mayoral candidate, Cermak swore revenge. That is when he formed his non-Irish political army and eventually wooed William Dawson, US Congressman from the 2nd District and the most powerful black politician in the country, to switch from the Republican to the Democratic party.
But the fellow who really deserved the credit for Cermak's machine was an Irishman and great West Sider: Roger Sullian. He gave Cermak his coalition.
From page 54 of John R. Schmidt's The Mayor Who Cleaned Up Chicago: A Political Biography of William E. Dever
Roger Sullivan didn not live to enjoy the fruits of his labor [Cermak's machine] The old boss died shorlty before the Democratic National Convention of 1920. Although he had been in declining health for some time, his passing came as a shock; he had been a prominent part of the Chicago scene for so long. Sullivan's only elected office had been as a probate court clerk in the 1890s, but the citizens of his city were aware that a political gian had moved among them. They honored him in the traditional way America commemorates her dead staemen. They named a high school after him.
All Cermak got was 22nd street.
Bill,
Boy, is that the truth. Cermak was one tough and smart man. Braidwood born too - coalminer.
Larry
It seems you live in another world since EVERY President you named did something for the country except Clinton. We are paying the price for child like foreign policy the walls set up to protect him came back to kill 3000 people he did nothing but mark time no big decisions.
Al quida blew up the WTC and Clinton did nothing. They blew up our Embassies and Clinto blew up a Asprin factory. They blew up one of our ships and we did nothing. they killed 18 of our air borne rangers and we pulled out. He was a coward who shows what happens when you show the world weakness they go after us.
If you think I am embellishing read Osama's own words why he attacked he said our actions showed that we were a paper tiger!
Here is the link to the interview
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/who/miller.html
And here is an excerpt:
"When the Marines landed in the last days of 1992, bin Laden sent in his own soldiers, armed with AK-47's and rocket launchers. Soon, using the techniques they had perfected against the Russians, they were shooting down American helicopters. The gruesome pictures of the body of a young army ranger being dragged naked through the streets by cheering crowds flashed around the world. The yearlong American rescue mission for starving Somalians went from humanitarian effort to quagmire in just three weeks. Another superpower humiliated. Another bin Laden victory.
"After leaving Afghanistan, the Muslim fighters headed for Somalia and prepared for a long battle, thinking that the Americans were like the Russians," bin Laden said. "The youth were surprised at the low morale of the American soldiers and realized more than before that the American soldier was a paper tiger and after a few blows ran in defeat. And America forgot all the hoopla and media propaganda ... about being the world leader and the leader of the New World Order, and after a few blows they forgot about this title and left, dragging their corpses and their shameful defeat."
Great President MY ASS
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