Was There an Obama-Daley Deal on the Presidency?
This is another in a series of stories that received some play in Chicago at the time it occurred but never made it past the state line for some reason.
It is especially curious that this story never took off nationally because far more than most people realize, Mayor Richard M. Daley is a player in national Democratic politics - perhaps not as powerful as his father but almost certainly the current Mayor Daley has more clout than any other big city Democratic mayor in the country.
The current mayor has fewer congressmen that he can whip into line for the party thanks to Chicago’s shrinking population and a welcome sense of independence among some minority legislators. But the Machine built by the Democratic party prior World War II can still flex its muscles when called upon. It may not be as monolithic as it once was. But thanks to people like the Mayor’s brother Bill Daley - who served as Secretary of Commerce for Clinton and ran Al Gore’s 2000 campaign - as well as some important money men in the party, the Machine’s reach is indeed considerable.
But what led Mayor Daley, normally reluctant to endorse a presidential candidate in the primaries, to give the nod to Obama?
Apparently, the Mayor was looking at his own electoral problems in 2007 with what was promising to be a very tough re-election campaign. Until early November, 2006, Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr - son of the Democratic party activist and former presidential candidate - was planning his own run for Mayor as was powerful Hispanic Congressman Luis Gutierrez. Fortune favored Daley in this case when Democrats swept the mid terms and brought both Congressmen the opportunity to chair powerful subcommittees. Suddenly, Mayor of Chicago didn’t look quite as attractive. Both men dropped out of the Mayor’s race later that month.
The prospect of running against a three term incumbent probably played an equally large role in dissuading both men from running as well.
The problem for the Mayor’s opponents was finding a candidate who could unite the fractious west and south side African Americans while pulling in a substantial number of Hispanic voters along with white, reform minded liberals along the lakefront. Such a coalition would have a chance against the Mayor’s powerbase on the southwest side where he routinely racked up 90% majorities in some wards.
With Jackson and Gutierrez out of the picture, the Mayor’s main challenger was Dorothy Brown, Clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court. Brown was an attractive candidate out of the reform mold, beloved of white liberals and just the sort of citywide office holder that might be able to bridge the gap between the south and west side black communities.
To be sure, Brown had an uphill battle against Daley’s huge advantage in infrastructure and fund raising. What she really needed to give her campaign a rocket powered boost was an endorsement from a major black politician being mentioned as a possible presidential candidate.
Taking no chances, Daley called Obama in for a series of meetings that lasted two months. Obama’s major problem with Daley was that he was a corrupt sonnovabith, having just seen 4 of his top aides convicted in the city’s largest patronage scandal. It seemed a given that the squeaky clean Obama would endorse the candidate promising to clean up city hall.
Then, in late December of 2007, the tumblers all clicked into place and Daley made his nearly unprecedented endorsement of Obama for president. About the same time, it was announced that his brother Bill would be going to work for the Obama campaign.
As Chicago Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed reported this week, Bill Daley has signed on as a senior adviser to Obama, who is expected to formally enter the presidential race next month.
Sources said the mayor’s decision to embrace Obama was made before his brother reserved a seat on the senator’s bandwagon. The mayor and Obama have been meeting about the subject for months, huddling for 2½ hours at City Hall as recently as last week.
It is hard to overstate the coup Obama pulled off by getting both Daleys on his side. Bill Daley has a rolodex of Democratic contributors that could rival Hillary and Bill’s. It would be an interesting counterfactual to imagine the Obama campaign’s finances without the younger Daley.
So what did Obama promise in return?
In effect, Obama surrendered to the Machine by promising to endorse its corrupt mayor rather than his reform minded challenger (commentary in parenthesis):
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama today endorsed Mayor Daley’s re-election bid, asserting that City Hall corruption is being cleaned up and that Chicago has “blossomed” under the mayor’s “innovative” and decisive leadership.
Obama said he decided to support Daley and the mayor’s revamped “rainbow ticket” long before deciding to enter the presidential sweepstakes. (Pure BS)
Daley plans to abandon his longstanding tradition of remaining neutral in Democratic primaries to endorse Obama over Hillary Clinton in the 2008 presidential race. But Obama said his endorsement of Daley was earned and not part of any quid pro quo. (Liar)
“Even his detractors acknowledge that the city has been well-managed and has performed in all respects in ways that are the envy of a lot of other cities across the country,” (and the envy of corrupt politicians as well) Obama said at a news conference at the mayor’s Loop campaign headquarters.
“I don’t think there’s a city in America that has blossomed as much over the last couple of decades than Chicago — and a lot of that has to do with our mayor. He has a national reputation that’s well-deserved . . . as somebody’s who’s innovative, as somebody who’s tough, as somebody who’s willing to make the hard the decisions, as somebody who is constantly thinking about how to make the city better.” (and someone who can help get me elected president despite him being a crook.)
That’s not all. A couple of months later, Obama endorsed another crook from the Machine:
Though it didn’t make national news, Obama inflamed many residents in his old state Senate district last March when he endorsed controversial Chicago alderman Dorothy Tillman in a runoff election.
Flamboyant and unpredictable, Tillman is perhaps best known for once pulling a pistol from her purse and brandishing it around at a city council meeting. The ward she represented for 22 years, which included historic Bronzeville, comprised the city’s largest concentration of vacant lots.
Just three months before Obama made his endorsement, the Lakefront Outlook community newspaper ran a three-part investigative series exposing flagrant cronyism and possible tax-law violations that centered on Tillman and her biggest pet project, a taxpayer-funded cultural center built across the street from her ward office that had been hemorrhaging money since its inception.
In the end, Tillman lost the election despite Obama’s endorsement, which critics said countered his calls for clean government. Obama told the Chicago Tribune that he had backed Tillman because she was an early supporter of his 2004 U.S. Senate campaign.
Many speculate Obama only bothered to weigh in on a paltry city council election during his presidential campaign as a gesture to Chicago’s powerful Mayor Richard M. Daley, a Tillman supporter.
This behavior is not unusual for Obama if you examine the record. To wit:
1. His very first race for state senate, he used the time honored Machine tactic of challenging the nominating petitions of every other candidate, getting all 4 of them removed from the ballot.
2. He cultivated a relationship with the ancient President of the Illinois State Senate Emil Jones who told a colleague in 2002 after the Democrats swept into office “I’m gonna make me a senator.” Jones then proceeded to give Obama credit on the passage of 26 key legislative measures - almost all of which had been pushed by other state senators for years - thus giving Obama a record of sorts to go with all that charisma. Obama calls Jones his “political godfather.”
3. While in the Senate, Obama has had numerous opportunities to live up to his promised “post partisan” reforms and has never - repeat never - participated in any bi-partisan agreement reached by Democrats and Republicans on any issue. He has gone so far as to reject the outcomes of those compromises on immigration reform and an agreement on confirming federal judges.
4. When faced with a choice between supporting a mayoral candidate who stood for clean government and the corruption of the Chicago Machine, Obama chose old fashioned power politics.
Obama’s political career is replete with examples of opportunism, cynical deal making, hack politics, and business as usual relationships with crooks and scam artists like Tony Rezko. His entire presidential campaign is built on a lie; that he is a different kind of politician and will be able to change the way business is done in Washington.
When given the opportunity in the past, Obama has usually chosen doing things the old fashioned way. Why in God’s name should we believe him now? Did he try and “reform” Chicago politics? Did he try and “reform” the Senate while his colleagues worked on bi-partisan agreements on vital issues?
You can support the man’s policies without holding him up (and throwing in our faces) the idea he is some kind of “new” politician who will change everyone’s lives. And if he keeps pushing that meme, he will look like the emperor with no clothes as facts about his relationships with various shady Chicago characters come to light, giving the lie to his grandiose claims like “We are the change that we are seeking.”
Wow. just wow.
The more we hear about this man, the more corrupt I realize he is. Enough is enough people. Wake up and stop supporting this crook.
i wonder what will be the bottom of Obama’s dirty politic. it seems to go lower and lower by the day.
Well, it only looks "dirty" if you accept as objective fact all of Rick’s speculations and unsupported parenthetical assertions.
If you limit yourself to only things which Rick provided evidence for, well, this post would largely be a blank screen, wouldn’t it?
Personally, since I never made the “special” or “squeaky clean” claims on Obama’s behalf anyway, the shocking shocking notion that Obama might play in the exact same political system as every other candidate (including those who seem to rarely get criticized for it around here….hmmmmmm) does little to undermine my good impression of the man. I’m still waiting for Obama’s critics to find substantial criticisms to replace their rumors, speculations, and spin.
Amazing. For the candidate of peace, hope, and unity, he has certainly been willing to stoop to any means to promote his candidacy.
Thank you for this very useful information.
One factoid about Dorothy Tillman that you left out is that she’s a pretty big racist. She once had white waiters removed from a banquet she was holding at the Palmer House Hilton and replaced with black waiters. I can’t get over how Obama endorsed her over Pat Dowell even though everyone knows she is/was dirty.
That’s good for you, jason! But I feel bad for all the *new* young people Obama is bringing in to politics for the first time in their lives, because they’ve found someone they can believe in — someone who is new, and different. Except he’s not.
What will happen to their *hope* when the truth finally comes out? Will they stay involved in trying to change things for the better, even though their hero will be exposed as just another over-ambitious politician who lied to them? Will they still come out and vote for him in November if he’s the nominee?
Many Obama supporters claim Hillary is willing to do anything, including destroy the Democratic Party for power. It would never occur to them that they are describing their own candidate. I hear (read) many Obama supporters threaten they will <i>never</i> vote for Hillary if she’s the nominee… well, I guarantee it goes both ways.
I was born in Chicago. I hated every minute of it. My ‘clan’ had been deeply involved in ‘dirty politics’ for generations. I hated that too. If I were to start telling stories now I’d have to take off work the rest of the year to finish. I was under the impression Chicago was cleaned up. No I can’t have been following things closely and I admit it. Why would I want to? I’d met the current mayor once and was under the impression he was a family outsider and was going to turn his father’s corrupt world upside down. I guess I was wrong.
There is no one who wants to be a Mr Clean in politics who moves to bloody Chicago. The Rezkos and the Auchis try to move to Chicago and they’re very welcome there. But supposed idealistic politicians don’t do that.
One thing no one has looked into is why Obama ever went there. Hawaii, Indonesia, Hawaii, California, Columbia New York - and suddenly Chicago? What was the connection? There was only one what we know.
Tony Rezko.
There are no Mr Cleans in Chicago politics. The real Mr (and Ms) Cleans want to stay as far away as possible for obvious reasons.
And I have (unfortunately) lived there. It’s like a class society. No one’s honest. No one. And certainly not any politicians. And remember: Chicago controls the entire state. It’s not just a city - it’s the total state power.
why does Warren Buffett support Obama…? Why does the original investor in Google support Obama…? Why does the founder of Netscape support Obama…? Why does the most successful Hedge Fund manager in the midwest (Ken Griffin from Citadel) support Obama…?
Some of the smartest minds in North America are behind Barack Obama. He will become the best president we have had since John F. Kennedy.
"He will become the best president we have had since John F. Kennedy. "
Well then, he has a lot to live up to doesn’t he. Obama and Kennedy are the same: you can’t name a single damn accomplishment of either one them. The one thing I can tell you is that Kennedy’s inexperience and lack of judgment regarding foreign policy nearly led to the destruction of mankind. Kruschev put missles in Cuba because he viewed Kennedy as someone who was weak and could be pushed around. I wonder if the world would view Obama the same way? Iran must be simply laughing at us right now.
As for why Buffett, google guy, ect., are all supporting him, I don’t know. Maybe they should stick to business and economics and stay out of poltics and international affairs. They obviously don’t have the long-term interests of US foreign policy and national security in mind when they throw support behind him.
And I though Obama was the candidate of the common man? Considering that, he sure does have A LOT of billionares supporting him (Oprah, Soros, Buffett, Google Guy, ect., ect., ect.) Its all a scam people. Wake up and smell the dirty Chicago politics.
Warren Buffet has not endorsed Obama. I don’t know much about Chicago politics but I do know we need to see politicans as politicians. There is no purity in politicis and that is the truth. So Obama making it seem like he is different is only because he wants to creat the Obama rules vs the same old rules he wants to play the game his way which means have more caucuses and consider that democracy. Obama needs to be worried about the fact that his opponent has won more popular votes in all the primaries then any other candidate in the Democratic primary in this nations’s history. That does not include caucuses but one needs to ask the tough question if all caucuses were primaries would Hillary Clinton be ahead in delegates?
Have you, or anyone, sent this article to CNN or MSNBC? They just keep gloating over him. Especially from January 1st to around mid February. They made him appear to be the next best thing to Heaven. It is about time that the mainstream media ask him the tough questions. His free pass with the press, not to mention these news outlets showing his "rallys" and "speeches" 24/7 had a lot to do with his early wins. Wisconsin would never have voted for Obama if they knew NAFTA, his main platform speech, was pure rhetoric. Where is our mainstream media when we really need them? This is President of the United States and they act and report as if they are covering the President of the Student Council at the local High School and ooh and aah like they are a tween at a Hannah Montana concert. There is no excuse for the media. None. If they do not immediatelly start reporting all sides and being true journalist it will take years for many Americans to trust them again. There is absolutley no excuse for Obama’s skeletons to stay in a closet while the other 2 candidates get hammered by the media. I certainly "hope" that Americans wake up to the real Barack Obama before it is too late. But regardless, I feel certain Clinton will win the nomination anyway. I still believe we are smarter than Obama or the media thinks we are! Experience is experience.
I hope more people get to read this article. My compliments to the writer and editors. As I listen to WVON from 3pm to 10pm, from Cliff Kelley to the other blind morons, trying to make this man a God of the Black people, my stomacj turns and turns, hoping to vomit from the perpetuating lies told the the loyal listeners. Barrack or Barry, needs to be exposed to the national audience for what he has chosen to be, another Faker, created along with soon to be indicted Richard Michael Daley, in Corrupted Cook County Democratics Party Style Machine Politics. The world of Fakers and Puppet Masters is soon going to be published, and the FBI better listen, and the District Attorney better listen. Facts will soon be published and many heads will roll, including but not limited to, network media producers and executives for covering up factual corruption evidence and looking the other way. Someone, should request the list of candidates from the Barracks first election and interview them individually. People need to know what goes on and what is done to the people who wish to run for office with the intention of doing great things for their respective communities. People must know. If there "one" brave soul to follow up with this request?
Well ‘techinvestor’ we all know what eventually happened to Kennedy don’t we???
Hi Rick Moran — I know you wrote this months ago and I don’t know if you’ll see this comment, but I came across something you may want to read. "Imposter" blogger at NEWSWEEK http://www.newsweek.com/id/150479/output/comments has written some of the same (quoting Spivak too) and even included Dorothy Tillman. Colorful character, isn’t she? Especially the hats. (I live in Chicago.) Did you know she was arrested on 3-3-08? Imposter goes into great detail.
Did you know that JFK beat Nixon because of Mayor Daley? And that Senator Clinton set out as a kid to prove it (her father was a staunch republican)?
And what about Lake County Indiana (closest to Chicago) returns in the Primary? Theirs was the last to come in and voila narrowed the gap considerably. 11K absentee ballots helped out as well as the electioneering. A lady caught on tape saying "This is Obama’s house." inside the poling place as voters walked by.
Anyway, thought you might be interested.
If you lived in Philadelphia you would believe Obama is a Saint. The Columnist on the Philadelphia Inquirer, especially Dick Polman, want to examine Sarah Palin down to the brand underwear she wears but wants to know nothing about Obama’s past. They are like the three monkeys when it comes to Obama.
They see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil of their sacred crusader.
If you ask them one simple question: "What has Obama ever done to fight corruption, they ignore you."
Thanks for this site.
Dave