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Stroger’s biggest problem has never been nepotism or financial mismanagement. He’s an incompetent boob, which may be the only unforgivable sin in Chicago politics. No matter what happens with Dunnings, my favorite Stroger mishap will always be Cook County Magazine. It’s not so much that he invested taxpayer money in thinly-veiled hagiography, it’s that he fucked it up so badly it had to be scrapped. When Stroger couldn’t even do self-regard right – at the cost of $24,999, I figured he was doomed.
* The Tribune editorial board weighs in on the TIF “slush fund.” Good to see Joravsky’s meme getting traction.
Give a listen to “His Dream” while you’re at it: it’s a totally pro forma narrative about a middle-aged man who kind of wants to be an artist but has to make money to support his family. The sentiments are perfectly fine, and beyond cliched. He’s trying to translate the hip-hop mama-tribute standard into a ballad about a wage-earning dad who wants to dream big but can’t, and Roth’s inability to find anything interesting to say about it actually adds to the tension. Whether or not it’s from artistic restraint or a complete lack of imagination I’m not sure.
