Now that Barack Obama has secured the nomination of Democratic candidate for president, he and his handlers are ramping up their efforts to immunize him from his Chicago past.
A piece that appeared recently in Salon may be giving us a glimpse of the Obama team’s strategy. “Look Homeward, Obama” was actually written by a former Daley speechwriter, Dan Conley, who admits he got that job through a connection with Axelrod; Conley’s wife still works for the mayor.
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Daley doesn’t encourage discussion—he stifles it. He loathes criticism and disparages debate. He takes credit for the good and shucks responsibility for the bad. Just a few weeks ago I heard an alderman in an unguarded moment tell his northwest-side constituents what happens to bills that don’t come out of the mayor’s office: If Daley doesn’t like a bill, he kills it. If he likes it, he rewrites it and claims it as his own.
So how should Obama play it when the Republicans launch their attack ads linking him to Daley’s Chicago? He should ditch the script that Conley so thoughtfully offered in Salon. He doesn’t need that fantasy of civility, consensus, racial harmony, and community empowerment. He can tell it like it is. If anything, Daley taught him to be ruthless, devious, and shrewd. He can say it’s prepared him for cracking down on Iran. v
