Obama Museum/Library advances, or merely the beginning of legal brawls?

A federal judge at the Dirksen Federal Building issued a quick ruling with regards to the fate of the proposed Obama Presidential Center – one intended to let officials begin actual construction in Jackson Park as quickly as they can get themselves readied.

Will the plans for Obama memorial move forward now?

Although I already can envision the many people who will take offense at the idea that a judge didn’t reject the Obama facility as something despicable and shameful, and are bound to bog down the process with many more legal appeals.

WHO’S TO SAY when actual construction will begin on the South Side to build what supporters argue will be an attraction bringing global tourism to a part of Chicago many wouldn’t bother paying attention to.

That is, unless they want to check out the Museum of Science and Industry nearby, while refusing to venture much further away out of fear what they would perceive as a hostile neighborhood.

Yes, I think there are many distortions of fact related to the project, also tied into the nitwit thoughts of ideologues who want to think they can diminish the historic significance and reputation of the Barack Obama presidency.

For all I know, they dream of the day when the Donald Trump presidency makes plans for its own memorial museum and library. Maybe they’ll dream of building it nearby in Chicago, with their structure towering high over the Obama building.

MY POINT IS it’s hard to take seriously much of the criticism that is being spewed about this project, and it is encouraging that U.S. District Judge John Blakey felt compelled to dismiss the lawsuit challenging the Obama facility after hearing only about one hour of legal arguments.

He easily could have taken the case under advisement, and spent several weeks pondering what he wanted to do. Before then issuing an obtuse legal opinion that likely would wind up confusing many of those who attempted to peruse it.

Instead, he instantly said he was dismissing the lawsuit against the Obama facility, and would issue an explanatory legal opinion at a later time.

OBAMA: Paying tribute to his memory?

Which means the critics already are saying they’re going to appeal. But they have to wait until they see the legal reasoning for the ruling before they can say on what grounds they think Judge Blakey is being a nincompoop.

OR WHATEVER LEGALISTIC term they choose to use to imply that Blakey is wrong!

Now I know there are people who object to the use of Jackson Park – which theoretically is one of the prime pieces of parkland on the Lake Michigan lakefront in Chicago. They think that letting a private entity like the Obama Foundation use public land borders on criminal – if not immoral.

Then again, there are others who object to anything celebrating the Obama memory because they want to believe that HE bordered on criminal AND immoral.

I know one self-proclaimed Sout’ Sider who argues against Jackson Park, and says that Washington Park to the north of it (the site where former Mayor Richard M. Daley once talked of erecting an Olympic Stadium – IF he had been able to attract the 2016 Olympic Games to Chicago) would make more sense.

ALTHOUGH I WONDER if many people who don’t specifically live in the South Shore or Hyde Park neighborhoods could tell the difference between the two parks. They may well view the two as one continuous piece of parkland on the lakefront – located in neighborhoods they’ve never actually ventured into.

I almost feel like Judge Blakey chose to dismiss on the grounds that the people most critical didn’t have a true stake in the project. Or else they’re the ones who live around the park and want to think of it purely as their neighborhood playlot.

Keep all those outsiders away from their homes, instead of them realizing they live in a place that has great potential to be a showcase for Chicago. One from which they could financially benefit – if they played their cards right, so to speak!

So now we move on to the appeal process. With people perhaps looking for a judge who’d be inclined to overturn Blakey’s ruling just because it favors the Obama reputation. Meaning the Obama reputation will continue to divide us into those of us with a tad bit of sense, and those ideologically-inclined to want to shriek “no” every chance they get!

  -30-

Buttigieg the presidential “flavor of the month,” how long will that last?

Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., seems to be the flavor of the month when it comes to the presidential election cycle we’ll go through next year.

BUTTIGIEG: Really a 'new' Obama?

As in people interested in picking a Democrat from amongst the dozen or so currently in the running to challenge Republican Donald Trump are focusing their attention on Buttigieg – who seems to be trying to build up the notion that he’d be the equivalent of another “Barack Obama,” somebody whose election would give them a “first” to support.

BUT WHILE BARACK was the first black man who managed to win the presidency, Buttigieg would be the first openly gay man (and a married one, to boot) who could be elected president.

For all those people appalled at the notion that Trump won the presidency back in 2016 on a campaign of undoing all the “firsts” that Obama had brought our society, I’m sure that picking Pete as president would seem all the more appropriate.

His election could be perceived as undoing all the harm that this Age of Trump has brought upon us.

We’re going to be getting a lot of Obama/Buttigieg comparisons in coming months. The Chicago Sun-Times pointed out this week that several of the people who helped raise money to get Obama started at the beginning are now on the Buttigieg train.

Does 'Mayor Pete" replace Obama, … 

IN FACT, ONE of them on Tuesday is staging a fundraising event for Buttigieg. John Atkinson told the newspaper he’s now fully committed to “Mayor Pete.” Part of the reason is that he figures Buttigieg is from Indiana – one of the Midwestern states solidly in the Trump camp.

Could Buttigieg be a key in Democrats taking Indiana’s 11 Electoral College votes away from Trump – along with those surrounding Great Lakes states such as Michigan and Wisconsin? That could well be the key to a Democratic presidential victory in 2020!

The talk has been offered up that both Obama and Buttigieg are Midwesterners – Great Lakes-types who aren’t tied to the East or West coasts. Both also have their ties to Harvard University.

Superficial ties, they may well be. But compared to many of the reasons offered up by Trump’s backers for supporting him (mostly because they like the way he offends the sensibilities of the majority who voted against him, but weren’t enough to win the Electoral College), they come off as all-too sensible!

… or just a better option to Trump?

I’M WONDERING HOW soon it will be before the reports start getting stirred up about how Buttigieg, in his first few weeks as mayor of South Bend, fired Police Chief Darryl Boykins.

He was the first black police chief, and there are those who think it was because Buttigieg chose to side with white cops who had their own racial hang-ups.

The New York Times already has reported on the issue. But how long until the news organizations that put the ideological spin on their reports (under the guise that it’s everybody else that reports “fake” news) get ahold of this – wanting to let us know that Buttigieg is some form of hypocrite unworthy of our support?

With the conservative ideologues desperately hoping they can stick a knife in the back of the Buttigieg supporters who’d be inclined to think he’s another Barack Obama.

OF COURSE, WE’RE nearly a year away from the primaries where people actually cast ballots for who should get the presidential nominations (it’s March 17, 2020, in Illinois). Buttigieg possibly could have long faded-away as a credible candidate by then.

SANDERS: Will he get Dem nomination?

Particularly if those people who seriously want Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont to be more successful this time around (I’m not amongst them) than he was in the 2016 Democratic primary manage to succeed.

If anything, what people need to be doing is looking to the future – finding someone with a vision to advance our society forward, rather than reverting to the past.

Perhaps not someone offering up visions of being an Obama successor. And certainly not somebody determined to keep wearing that ridiculous cap about “Make America Great Again” by reverting to a vision of our society that offers to exclude so many of us.

  -30-

When an Election Day endorsement doesn’t mean a whole heck of a lot

There were those people who expected this election cycle for Chicago mayor to ultimately come down to a political brawl between candidates Toni Preckwinkle and Bill Daley.

Preckwinkle wishes she could claim … 

With that in mind, it would seem like it somehow ought to be significant that the Daleys are now throwing in their lot with Preckwinkle. But not really!

IT MAY MORE well be evidence that an endorsement can be cheap. Just like talk itself.

Actually, Bill Daley has pretty much kept quiet since that night in late February when he fell short of having enough votes to qualify for the ongoing run-off election that will take place April 2.

The endorsement proper came from John Daley, as in one of Bill’s brothers and one of the many men who can say they’re a son to one-time Mayor Richard J. Daley.

John is the one who’s saying people ought to cast a vote for Preckwinkle over the campaign of Lori Lightfoot.

WHETHER THAT WILL mean much in the way of generating political support has yet to be determined. We’ll have to wait and see whether anybody is swayed by the idea of the Daley name taking a stance in this run-off.

… to have the political backing of Daley … 

Personally, this strikes me as one of those formality endorsements. As in it’s being done for the sake of saying he took a stance – rather than because he actually cares much about which candidate actually prevails.

Either that, or John Daley himself is incredibly eager for a political promotion.

For John Daley is a member of the Cook County Board. He even has the title of “finance chairman,” which does put him in a position of authority and makes him someone whose judgment on issues often is deferred to.

AND IF BY chance Preckwinkle manages to prevail in the mayoral election, it would create a vacancy for the board president’s position. A spot that would be filled by the other county board members from amongst their ranks.

… and Obama.

Meaning John Daley could find himself in line to become the county board president for the next three-plus years. Considering he’s the Daley brother who often is thought of as the one whose political ambitions are on a smaller scale than those of Rich or Bill, it would be ironic if he wound up becoming the highest-ranking Daley in our local political scene.

In fact, it would be the real kicker if Bill Daley’s mayoral loss set the stage for John to become the county board president.

Of course, the Daley endorsement isn’t the only “big name” one that Preckwinkle would like to have these days. Much has been made of how she wanted to have Barack and Michelle Obama make some sort of statement of support on her behalf.

HOPING THAT THE Obama influence could still linger over Chicago sufficiently enough to sway some people to actually get off their keisters and cast ballots for Toni.

Barack backing didn't help Quinn

Unfortunately for Preckwinkle, the Obamas have decided to keep quiet this election cycle after all. They’ll cast their ballots (via absentee from their home in the D.C. metro area), but they’re not making anything in the way of public statements about who people should vote for.

Then again, perhaps they’re remembering the 2014 election cycle when Obama made a point of a late endorsement in support of Pat Quinn for governor. It didn’t help. We still got Bruce Rauner’s one-term stint as guv.

Perhaps Toni has become so bogged down in the nonsense that could take her down to mayoral defeat that Barack and Michelle just figure it’s better to remain silent, than open one’s mouth and remove all doubt about being a fool.

  -30-

‘Big 10’ turf to be the key to comprehending 2020 prez election

They're the midwestern states that comprise the Big 10. Or maybe you prefer to think of them as the places where the Great Lakes are a daily reality of life.

Will Milwaukee get honors of helping 'dump Trump'

Our region of the nation is going to play a key factor in comprehending just how the will of the nation leans come the 2020 election cycle for president. As to whether we get “four more years” of Donald Trump or someone inclined to keep his perspective alive?

OR WILL WE see a return to sanity and a jerk back to policies less selfish and mean-spirited than the ones we’ve had the past two-plus years? Which if you look at the results of the latest Morning Consult “Tracking Trump” poll is the trend the Great Lakes region is heading toward these days.

A large part of the reason why Trump was able to win the electoral college (and a term as president) despite losing the popular vote by a significant margin is that many of the states of our region flipped over to the GOP column.

With many states having their more rural portions turn out to vote in stronger numbers – thereby enabling them to overcome the urban portions of their states.

Illinois may have significantly went for Hillary Clinton’s presidential dreams, along with Minnesota. But the rest of the region, including Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin felt compelled to back Trump.

Who will decide electoral outcome in '20?

ILLINOIS LITERALLY FELT all alone and lonesome in our region that Election Night of 2016. If a Democratic presidential challenger is to have any chance of achieving victory in 2020, we’re going to have to go back to the days when the bulk of the Great Lakes region leans Democrat – with places like Detroit, Cleveland and Milwaukee turning out and leaving Indiana as the isolated freak of the region.

It is with that in mind that it makes all the sense in the world that the Democratic Party decided to hold their presidential nominating convention next summer in one of the most unglamorous of places – Milwaukee.

Much was made in the news reports of the convention location that this is one of the few times a nominating convention was held in a Midwestern city. Not since 1916 and St. Louis has such an event been held in our region of the nation.

With the exception being Chicago. We had the Democratic convention of 1996, and the historic memories of 1968 still linger in our political mindset. Before that, both major political parties used to enjoy our city.

WHEN RICHARD NIXON was nominated for president in 1960, it was our city that did the honors of hosting the event. Even though most Republican ideologues like to rant and rage that Chicago’s real part of that particular election cycle was providing enough inner-city and cemetery-based voted to ensure that Nixon lost to John F. Kennedy.

Not likely that Republicans would ever consider coming to our city for their political shows. In fact, next year they’ll be doing their honors in Charlotte, N.C. – the city that hosted the Democratic convention of 2008 that resulted in Barack Obama being presented to the nation.

The point being that I’m sure Democratic political operatives intend for a Milwaukee-based event to inspire Democrats of Wisconsin to turn out in force. To make sure that the Badger state’s 10 electoral votes are amongst the ones that wind up in the Democratic presidential challenger’s column.

Which could also inspire Democrats in places like Detroit to make sure that cities such as Grand Rapids, Mich., don’t out-vote them again, or that Ohio’s urban areas around Cleveland and Toledo don’t get drowned out by partisan opposition in Cincinnati.

BECAUSE IT’S VERY clear that if those Great Lakes states swing back over to the Democratic column, we won’t have a “President Trump” or anybody aligned with him any longer. Heck, it’s obvious that if Hillary Clinton hadn’t taken the region for granted in 2016, she would have got the Electoral College majority IN ADDITION to a popular vote win!

Checking out Aaron's one-time home

We would never have had to endure the embarrassment that a Trump presidency would have brought us.

Of course, we’d have had to endure years of partisan nonsense from Republican ideologues determined to show us they could dump on Hillary even worse than they did to Obama or to her husband, Bill.

So next year, when the political attention span of the nation focuses for a week on Milwaukee, keep in mind there’s a reason. Maybe you’ll even find a chance to enjoy a brew – along with being in the city that was home to one of baseball’s all-time greats, Hank Aaron. Or if you're feeling particularly lame, you can skip through the streets singing the "Laverne & Shirley" theme song.

  -30-

Fioretti showing persnickety mindset in wanting to dump Daley Plaza name

During the time he served as an alderman, Robert Fioretti was one of the people willing to speak out and say whatever he thought – regardless of how contrary his thoughts were to the establishment that set policy for municipal government.

Fioretti takes political pot shots at Daley son … 

Not that he was someone who got things done. If anything, he was somebody that reporter-type people could turn to whenever they needed a quote saying how absurd the mayor or other officials were being in their actions. Not somebody who could talk about serious policy questions or details.

SO IT WASN’T a shock that city officials used their last redistricting process of ward boundaries to put Fioretti into a ward without many people who’d be inclined to support him.

And that when he tried running for mayor in 2015, he was viewed by the city’s political establishment as the guy they most wanted to see go down to defeat.

He was a loud-mouth who wouldn’t get anything accomplished, but would also make other people feel awkward and miserable while they tried to go about their actions.

And now that Fioretti is trying once again to run for mayor, it seems his temperament hasn’t changed one iota.

FOR FIORETTI DARED to make the most sacrilegious of suggestions – taking away the name of the ultimate Hizzoner, Richard J. Daley, from the Civic Center that serves as the Cook County courthouse.

… for suggesting Dan Ryan name change … 

What would the Daley Plaza be, other than a place with a half-century-old Picasso sculpture that most Chicagoans still can’t say exactly what it is.

Fioretti on Friday suggested that the Daley Center building be the Chicago structure that gets renamed to honor Barack Obama – the former president who made his adult life in the Hyde Park neighborhood.

Now in all honesty, Fioretti doesn’t expect anybody to take his suggestion seriously. He doesn’t really want to have the identity of the Big O himself become tied to our civil courthouse and future generations of lawsuits that get filed within the city of Chicago.

… to a tribute to Barack Obama

WHAT HE’S REALLY doing is taking pot shots at Daley’s son, William. Who’s also among the masses of candidates wishing to run for mayor, and who is the one who suggested that the Dan Ryan Expressway be renamed for Obama.

In short, he’s trying to p’ off the powers that be who still hold the name “Daley” as something sacrosanct and sacred.

Maybe he even thinks he’ll gain a few votes for his mayoral bid from the kind of people who were always eager to trash the Daley legacy and who view the idea of a third “Mayor Daley” as an absolutely abhorrent concept for Chicago to have.

It’s political trash talk; rancid rhetoric of the finest kind. It’s all about stirring up the partisan pot. Which may well be why Fioretti is a long-shot to actually become mayor, and probably wouldn’t be capable of competently serving as mayor even if he could win an election.

FOR EVEN WHEN he offers up a somewhat legitimate point, his rhetoric comes off as so antagonistic that it prevents anybody from taking him seriously in the least.

Richard J. isn't about to lose his namesake tribute

Yes, I actually think renaming the Dan Ryan is ridiculous. Then again, I tend to think we should try to avoid naming streets and buildings for people who will be forgotten a couple of generations from now. It only ensures that the few who bother to remember will take great offense.

Just think if we did name something now for Barack Obama, how much of a stink would develop some time around the year 2070 when someone suggests ditching the name to honor somebody who likely doesn’t even exist yet.

So it may be so that Bill Daley is being short-sighted in even suggesting the renaming of the Dan Ryan Expressway. But Fioretti’s willingness to go for the punchline as part of his own mayoral dreams may well show us why he’s no better qualified to work out of Richard J.’s one-time City Hall office.

  -30-

Will Chicagoans have to choose between memory of Dan Ryan, Obama?

Will Dan Ryan subside someday … 

Bill Daley’s campaign for Chicago mayor is trying to gain some attention these days with a suggestion that a city-based expressway be named (renamed, actually) for Barack Obama.

Daley offers up a line of logic that other Chicago expressways are named for John F. Kennedy and Dwight Eisenhower – so why not give a president actually from Chicago the same honor?

… to Barack Obama?

ALTHOUGH SOME PEOPLE are speculating that this gesture by Daley is merely something meant to try to sway a share of the black vote to actually think about casting a ballot for him. Something with symbolic value, but little to no actual value in terms of public service.

But what is really causing a stink amongst some people is that Daley is suggesting a portion of Interstates 90 and 94 be used as the Obama Expressway. As in the same portion of highway that for years has been known as the Dan Ryan Expressway!

I-90/94, northwest to O'Hare

State Rep. LaShawn Ford, D-Chicago, who led the effort to rename a central Illinois part of Interstate 55 for Obama, claims that the law prohibits Ryan’s name from being removed. Although Illinois Department of Transportation officials say there are procedures that could allow for the name change.

I-290, west to Tri-State

Although they also told the Chicago Sun-Times they discourage too many changes, saying it can cause confusion amongst the driving public.

SO WHAT’S GOING to become of the Dan Ryan Expressway? Has Dan really outlived his usefulness as a namesake for THE major street cutting through the South Side leading people into and away from the downtown area.

I-55 southwest to Obama Expy

Has it truly been so long that Ryan’s name no longer has political significance? Is “the Ryan” in reference to a daily commute going to be an example of someone thinking in a 20^th Century reference.

Will people living in Chicago in the late 21^st Century think of “the Obama” as the main way of travelling from 95^th Street all the way into the heart of the city – with that view of the one-time Sears Tower looming in the distance; growing taller and taller as we drive closer and closer to it?

Or is the name “Dan Ryan” too sacred to Chicago’s character that it would seem sacrilegious to think of changing it. What next; taking the name “Harold Washington” off of the main building of the Chicago Public Library?

Is Rkchard J.'s name sacrosanct?

OR REMOVING “RICHARD J. Daley from the downtown Civic Center (as in the building with the ‘Picasso” statue out front)?

Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that many people don’t know who Dan Ryan, Jr. (there also was a Sr. who was politically significant) was.

Both served on the Cook County Board, with Jr. serving as a commissioner from the 1920s to 1954, when he became county board President – a post he held until his death in 1961.

During his time as an elected official, he took a special interest in the development of highways through Chicago, which is what caused the county board to think him worthy of presidents and a former governor (Adlai E. Stevenson II) when it comes to being namesakes for the city’s expressway system.

Will William gain support from Obama move?

NOW IF DALEY (as in William) winds up losing the upcoming mayoral election, this could wind up becoming a moot point. Who knows if anyone else will feel compelled to take up this issue.

It may strike some as an issue far too trivial to expend much time and energy on.

Although I must admit to having one reason to kind of hoping that an Obama Expressway in Chicago becomes a reality someday. We’re in an age where some amongst us are determined to do whatever they can think of to erase memories of Obama or his legacy from our society.

The idea of a highway in Chicago that is federally funded and named for Obama? It would almost be the equivalent of a middle finger in the faces of all those who find things to admire about this Age of Trump we’re now in.

  -30-

EXTRA: Obama will be beloved in Chicago space that rejected Trump

Barack Obama will be in Chicago Sunday, using the UI-Chicago Pavilion to hold a rally by which he tries to spread his beloved status amongst Democratic Party faithful to other candidates running for office in Tuesday’s elections.

This Near West Side-space will host an Obama political rally Sunday … 

I happened to be at the Pavilion Thursday night, and it got me to thinking of how Obama will literally be using the same space that so vehemently rejected the very idea of Donald Trump as president.

REMEMBER BACK TO March 11, 2016? That was the night that then-candidate Trump was in Chicago, and was going to use the Pavilion to try to stir up the masses in favor of his candidacy.

But thousands of people jammed the streets around the Pavilion, along with the hundreds of Trump critics who managed to get inside for the rally itself. Trump wound up having to cancel the event, rather than face a critical crowd that could easily have become a mob!

I’m sure those who approve of this Age of Trump in which we now live view the Pavilion as some sort of horrid place. How dare they be critical of The Donald! The fact that Obama will now be able to come in and get cheers and applause will be the ultimate repudiation of Trump-ism by us Chicagoans.

As to whether all that applause will translate into votes come Tuesday remains to be seen. Because it’s not unheard of that people who were compelled to show up for a rally on Sunday could easily find themselves too lazy to turn out to the polling place on Election Day.

THE SAME COULD be said for the rally to be held earlier Sunday in Gary, Ind., where I understand the tickets that allow people inside the Genesis Convention Center for the political event were snapped up quickly on Thursday and people are being told to stay away from downtown Gary unless they actually have a ticket to the event.

… as will this one in Gary, Ind.

Anyway, we’re bound to see a pair of public spectacles this weekend in which people will be urged to vote against political officials whose presence would provide aid and comfort to “President Trump.”

With this year’s election cycle serving as a prelude to 2020, when we get the chance to “Dump Trump!” himself from elective office. With Trump allies counting on general apathy from the people so as to allow Trump to have another term in office – should he decide that’s what he wants to do!

Would I be in a better mood if the ballgame had had a better ending? Photos by Gregory Tejeda

All of which were thoughts running through my mind while sitting inside the Pavilion, where my alma mater Illinois Wesleyan Titans managed to start off their basketball season by getting their clock cleaned, so to speak, by the UI-C Flames.

  -30-

Everybody freaking out during the final days of 2018 election cycle

I suppose it’s only natural; after devoting more than a full year of one’s life to trying to get elected to political office, the final days of the election cycle are going to bring out those last-minute jitters.

OBAMA: Returning home, or doing Dem duty?

Resulting in acts of desperation meant to ensure that nothing gets overlooked. After all, coming up a loser on Tuesday would merely mean the past year of a politico’s life amounts to nothing more than wasted time.

I COULDN’T HELP but interpret the actions of Bruce Rauner in such a manner when I saw his campaign try to make an issue of the fact that former President Barack Obama is going to be in the Chicago metro area on Sunday.

He’ll be in the city proper for an 3 p.m. event at the University of Illinois at Chicago (the same place where protesters once turned away Donald Trump himself). It will be a large-scale political rally where Obama will go out of his way to urge people to vote for Democrats come Tuesday.

He’ll be doing the same thing that same day in Gary, Ind., during a noon-hour rally at the Genesis Convention Center in the city's downtown.

Only there, instead of touting J.B. Pritzker for governor, he’ll be singing the praises of Joe Donnelly for re-election to the U.S. Senate.

BECAUSE IF DEMOCRATS are to have a chance of taking control of the Senate, keeping the seat from Indiana in their column is just as important as any of the places currently represented by Republicans that they dream of swiping.

PRITZKER: Getting Obama jolt prior to Tuesday

If anything, it may be more likely that Pritzker will put the Illinois governor post in the Democratic Party column than it will be that Donnelly will be able to prevent Hoosier ideologues from booting him from office in exchange for Republican Mike Braun.

Which is why Rauner is trying to make an issue of this. Why else, Bruce asks, would Obama feel compelled to visit Chicago unless Dems seriously feared a Rauner re-election.

Pure nonsense talk, if you think about it logically. But then again, political operatives of all persuasions rarely do – particularly when it gets to this point in the election season.

BUT THEN AGAIN, for Donnelly, an Obama visit may be a bigger deal – largely because the ideologues of Indiana always thought Joe got the Senate victory in 2012 largely on a fluke. Hence, they’re going all out to kick him out of office, and Donnelly may well feel the need to use all the weapons possible to get the Gary vote (one of the few parts of Indiana where Democrats prevail) to turn out to the max.

DONNELLY: Needs Obama jolt to win

Which then allows for Obama to be so close to his spiritual home (even if he now is a suburban D.C. guy, more than anything) that he can also make the two-days-before-Election Day appearance on behalf of Pritzker.

But it’s not just the Pritzker and Donnelly campaigns, along with that of Rauner, desperately looking to gain themselves attention.

For there’s also Toni Preckwinkle, whose campaign for Chicago mayor has until Feb. 26 to sway voters. Yet she’s trying to make people think it’s all important to turn out to vote on Tuesday to show support for her three months from now!

FOR PRECKWINKLE SAYS that a strong voter turnout for politically-progressive candidates on Tuesday will scare the opposition. “It’ll signal to our opponents that they need to spend as much money as possible to slow our movement down. We can’t let that happen,” she said.

PRECKWINKLE: She wants campaign cash!

Of course, Preckwinkle’s “solution” to this “problem?” Donate more money to her campaign, so she can fight back in next year’s election cycle. That’s literally the theme of her latest fundraising appeal.

Not that she’d be upset with having a larger campaign fund, since it seems some of her mayoral challengers (particularly William Daley, who already has come up with $1 million-plus for his political aspirations next year) have developed a large gap between her and the amount of cash she hopes to have on hand.

The jitters are fluttering about for political people. We literally don’t get a break between this election cycle, and the upcoming one.

  -30-

Politicos’ heads filled with way too many cockamamie ideas for own good

Birthright citizen revocation as legitimate …

Learning of President Donald Trump’s desire to repeal the concept of birthright citizenship for certain kinds of people he thinks are undeserving is a completely stupid idea.

It’s something that goes so contrary to the concepts of the U.S. Constitution whose ideals the president is supposed to be upholding (remember that oath of office?). If anything, the fact that Trump could conceive of such an idea is merely the ultimate evidence that he’s unfit to hold elective office.

… as 3rd presidential term for Obama

BUT IT IS far from the only absurd idea I have heard when it comes to people who think they’re having intelligent discussion about our government operations.

Just the other night, I happened to be a part of a dinner-type conversation with people who came up with an idea for picking the next president. One that I’m sharing solely because I know the very concept will grossly offend the sensibilities of those individuals who think Trump has a good idea with regards to birthright citizenship.

These people would like to see one-time Vice President Joe Biden (who is in Illinois Wednesday for a pair of appearances on behalf of congressional candidates whose election would undermine the president’s political strength) run for president with Obama as a running-mate, then resign upon victory!

BIDEN: Scheming to be president-elect only?

I can already envision the veins bursting in the heads of all the people to whom Obama was everything that could ever be wrong with this country (because he wasn’t exactly like them). I also want to tell all of those people to relax – it can’t happen!

It took just a few minutes for me to look up the law to see that anybody ineligible to be elected president (as Obama is because he’s already maxed out at two, four-year terms) is also ineligible to ascend to the presidency.

BASICALLY, I SUPPOSE Obama could be elected V-P (although I can’t envision why he’d want to be), but he would then be skipped over. The House Speaker would become next in line of succession to be president.

BOLSONARO: Trump's new political idol?

In short, it’s political gibberish. Pure nonsense. Just like the ideas that Trump is now putting out there about birthright citizenship, which is the concept that anybody actually born in within the boundaries of the United States or its territories is a U.S. citizen – regardless of what circumstances brought them here or their parents’ life stories.

Of course, in the mindsets of followers of this Age of Trump we’re now in, it’s the legal loophole that allows a batch of filthy Mexicans to sneak into this country, give birth to kids and have those children be able to claim U.S. citizenship and all its benefits – both for themselves and, by extension, for their parents.

That’s an overly-complex conspiracy theory if you think about it. You probably have way too much free time on your hands if you believe there’s any significant truth to it.

BESIDES, THE IDEA of birthright citizenship has its backing in the U.S. Constitution. Which means Trump could theoretically sign off on an amendment if he could go through the years-long process of getting Congress, then a majority of state legislatures to back it.

Not just the law, would Michelle allow it?

He certainly can’t merely draft an executive order, sign it, then have it be so. Unless he’s envious of Jair Bolsonero, the newly-elected president of Brazil – whom many think is a right-wing tyrant who will take his country in a dangerous direction. The same one that, I suspect, Trump would like to do with the U.S.A.

There are those who think Trump’s real motivation is to stir up a debate in coming days so as to motivate his ideologically-inclined voters to turn out on Election Day, and that the idea could go on the back-burner come Nov. 7.

But even if that’s true, it is scary to think people in positions of power could be vacuous-enough to believe something so absurd is possible. In short, the 2020 election cycle can’t come soon enough!

  -30-

Does J.B. have to fight to get his campaign attention in coming weeks?

We’re past Labor Day; which makes now through the coming weeks when would-be voters actually start paying attention to the upcoming Election Day – giving thought as to who they want to be governor for the next four years.

Could this yet-to-be-determined mayoral hopeful … 

Yet Democratic nominee J.B. Pritzker has one disadvantage going against him – the fact that the withdrawal of Rahm Emanuel as a candidate for mayor means that most Chicago-area people who give a damn about anything political are going to be focusing their attention on trying to figure out who’s going to run for mayor in next year’s election cycle.

AT THE VERY point in time when Chicagoans should be thinking about the governor’s race come Nov. 6, Pritzker is going to face a great reality about the Chicago political scene.

That is the fact that many would-be voters could care less about state government activity. They’re going to view the governor’s post as the least significant of the top-level political posts that exist. Mayor and U.S. senator are much higher priorities.

Which could be the factor that makes incumbent Gov. Bruce Rauner not a totally hopeless case in terms of his desires to be re-elected to a second term in office.

The Rauner campaign is one that is focusing its attention on trying to turn out the vote in the rural parts of Illinois. Which most definitely means outside of Chicago. In places where the fight over who will be the next mayor of Chicago is one of no relevance.

… take attention away from Pritzker, … 

AS MUCH AS us Chicago residents think such people live in isolation, it could be that a strong vote for Rauner in the 96 counties outside the Chicago metropolitan area could make him competitive electorally come Election Day.

Could electoral apathy be the factor that enables Rauner to overcome his own political complications and have a chance to actually win in November?

Could the mayoral brawl, what with people like Toni Preckwinkle or Luis Gutierrez deciding they want to rise to the political top and candidates like Paul Vallas and Garry McCarthy trying to claim they deserve to be taken more seriously than somebody who’s only now deciding they might want to run for office come February 26, wind up taking attention away from Pritzker?

… thereby bolstering Rauner's chances?

I couldn’t help but notice the event Friday in Urbana where Pritzker tried making his electoral appeal to University of Illinois-types at a coffee shop.

PRITZKER GOT ATTENTION because of who he brought along with him – former President Barack Obama, who managed to steal the focus of the event to the point where I’m sure there that the people who were at the Café Paradiso at the time of the event will remember it as the time they got to see Obama in person.

Did they even notice the heavy-set guy (who admittedly has lost some weight during his past year on the campaign trail) who was off to the side? Did they give him any thought whatsoever?

That might start happening a lot more in coming weeks. Because at a time when the candidates are supposed to step up their efforts full-throttle to try to capture Election Day votes, many Chicago voters are going to have their attention diverted.

Because there is only so much attention one can pay to political matters; and I also don’t doubt there will be others who will be more preoccupied with thoughts of the Chicago Bears and trying to have delusional thoughts that this team could be a Super Bowl contender.

I’M SURE FEB. 26 (and April 2 in the likely event that a mayoral run-off election is needed) are dates that will garner more attention amongst people than Nov. 6.

Was Barack the 'big man'  in Urbana?

Not that I’m predicting a Rauner victory. That man has his own political issues, and the fact that many Illinois voters living outside metro Chicago are disgusted with his own performance to the point where they want "Anybody But Bruce" to be the Election Day victor.

Which means the next 58 days could wind up being a political period with a sense of apathy amongst voters.

Almost as though we can hardly wait for this silly election cycle to come to an end so we can get on with the one that truly matters!

  -30-