Daley upset over McCain "Chicago Machine" commercial

As is his wont, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley blew a gasket yesterday as he discussed the latest John McCain television ad, Chicago Machine.

"Da mare" seems particularly upset that the ad brings his brother, former Clinton Secretary of State William Daley, into the political campaign via the ad, calling him a lobbyist.

Mayor Daley told reporters, "First of all, my brother is not a lobbyist. He's not a lobbyist. He's not a lobbyist. He's never been a lobbyist."

The Chicago Tribune points out that Bill Daley was a lobbyist. Oops.

Daley went on to suggest that the Barack Obama campaign run a commercial about the Keating Five scandal. The most prominent of the 1980s savings and loan scandals ended the careers of three of the five senators implicated. Sen. John Glenn (D-OH) and John McCain were cleared of wrongdoing. The Senate Ethics Committee said the pair exercised "poor judgement."

That scandal has been written about, analyzed, talked about, and thrashed about for almost twenty years. There is nothing new to discuss.

However, Chicago's Hired Truck Scandal, led to over thirty corruption related convictions of city officials. Among the haul by US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald included Robert Sorich, Daley's patronage chief. The Daley administration spent over $13 million in taxpayer funds to defend itself against the Hired Truck Scandal charges.

In 2005, the height of the scandal, Obama, in a rare moment of audacity, hedged on whether he would endorse Daley's 2007 reeelection effort, telling a reporter, endorse Daley for re-election, and Obama replied, "What's happened — some of the reports I've seen in your newspaper, I think, give me huge pause."

Just one hour later, presumably after getting a phone call, Obama backed off that statement.

Obama said the mayor was "obviously going through a rough patch right now." But he also said Chicago has "never looked better" and that "significant progress has been made on a variety of fronts." The senator said then it was "way premature" to talk about endorsements because the mayor had not yet announced his candidacy.

Two years later, while facing weak opposition, Obama endorsed Daley, who went on to win his sixth term. When confronted by his 2005 statement, Obama expressed his "concerns," but told reporters, "There is no doubt that there remains progress to be made. . . . But ultimately you want to look at the whole record of this administration. . . . The city overall has moved in a positive direction."

Not "change I can believe in." Yes, the city looks better--if you like wrought-iron fences, and flower pots with flowers five months a year (not even Obama can warm up Chicago's winters), but correct me if I'm wrong--Obama is supposed to be a "new kind of politician."

There is a Chicago Machine. There is corruption, lots of it, in Chicago. And Obama for the most part, looks the other way as the taxpayers get fleeced.

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