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"NEXT DALEY" EMERGES ONTO MAYORAL TRACK
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Candidate
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| Contributor | COSDem |
| Last Edited | COSDem Dec 04, 2011 07:25pm |
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| Category | Commentary |
| News Date | Monday, December 5, 2011 01:25:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Chicagoans thoroughly understand and appreciate the concept of "personhood," the latest skirmish in the battle over abortion. Opponents of abortion rights are putting referenda on various state ballots to mandate that a human being -- or person -- exists at the moment the sperm inseminates the egg.
That's old hat in the Windy City and the Cook County suburbs. The analogous concept of "officehood" has long been prevalent. What emanates from the loins of the mighty has long been the swiftest avenue to political power. DNA matters. Future politicians are created at the moment of conception, or shortly thereafter.
The latest manifestation of this phenomenon is Patrick Daley Thompson, a Bridgeport lawyer and one of three slated 2012 Democratic candidates for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. He is the son of the daughter of the late Mayor Richard J. Daley and the nephew of former mayor Richard M. Daley, his mother's brother.
Fortunately for Thompson, his mother providentially inserted her surname as his middle name. He's not Patrick David Thompson. You read it here first: Thompson, age 42, a real estate and zoning attorney since 1999, is on a fast track to be Chicago's mayor.
But wait. Isn't Rahm Emanuel going to be mayor for life? His popularity is stratospheric, his power is undisputed, and his ego is unrestrained. Compared to Emanuel's energetic comportment as mayor, Rich Daley was a bundle of lassitude. That, however, is typical. Emanuel, who sniffed the heady power of the White House as chief of staff, is initially enjoying his job and exercising his clout, but how long will he operate at a 24/7 level and tolerate just being mayor?
Why not Illinois governor in 2014? Or president in 2016 or 2020? The point is this: For Emanuel, the mayoralty is a steppingstone to higher office, not a career culmination. For the "Daley Clan," being mayor is the end-all and the be-all. This is "their" city. From 1955 to 2011, a period of 56 years, a Daley was |
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