Wow! I did not see that one coming. I just assumed that he would either die in office, or have to resign amidst a corruption scandal that finally reached the mayor’s office. This ought to make for a very interesting election coming up. There are already four or five Aldermen with their hats in the ring (or at least who have spoken about running), and this is sure to dredge up speculation of Rahm Emmanuel running for the office (he has only said in the past that he wouldn’t run against Daley).
I was wondering where to post this very topic. I guess I’ll go along with your thread!
As a survivor of the first “Dark Age” of Chicago between the two Daleys, I am not looking forward to a second one. I hope someone will materialize who understand what it takes to keep Chicago great. Hopefully, *not *Rahm.
Good pizza, dubious chili recipes, and massive infusions of graft?
Wow! That is a shocker. Like you, I thought he’d finally leave the mayor’s office feet-first or in handcuffs. Let’s hope he’s able to influence who his successor is - it would be too easy to get someone who can do a lot of damage.
Good riddance.
I know his wife has had setbacks in her cancer treatments.
Still, this comes as something of a shock.
The shock is that he announced it so early. In the past, he has held off his announcements until the last possible minute. No one saw his announcement coming today.
There has been a lot of speculation around town whether he would run again. He has taken a beating lately and it would have been his toughest race since the first or second run. Factor in his wife’s health and Rahm’s comments about wanting to be mayor and it seems almost expected.
But even of those that thought he would run, the consensus seemed to be that it would be his last term. Daley was pretty outspoken about not wanting to die in office like his father.
Daley was the best of all possible political figures: the benign dictator.
A dictator, when benign, provides excellent, user-friendly, and highly efficient government. Daley provided that throughout his tenure.
The problem with benign dictators, of course, is that you cannot guarantee that they will STAY benign. In fact, 99 times out of 100, they will NOT stay benign. That is why we can’t codify them into the political system. All we can do is enjoy them on those rare occasions that they pop up.
God Bless Mayor Daley forever.
So destroying Meigs Field was a benign act? Really?
At least now it can be restored.
Why would it be restored?
And let’s not forget that whole pesky second amendment that SCOTUS affirmed he was using for a doormat.
What does he do? Turns right around and imposes restrictions that amount to a defacto gun ban.
Yeah, good riddance.
Now, I’m not going as far as Tim R. Mortiss to praise Prince Richie, because I’m still pissed about the whole parking deal. But I hear a lot of folks huffing and snarling about what a lousy job Daley did, and thank God he’s going, and he oughta be going in handcuffs, and so on.
But c’mon people, think. Somebody’s gotta be mayor of Chicago. And who among the greedy sneaks and flashy half-wits that populate this town politically could’ve done a better job for 21years than Richard M.? Any of them? Huh!
Sure, there’s corruption. There will always be corruption in this town. This is Chicago, not boring-ass Minneapolis. The most you can hope for is that the level of graft doesn’t interfere with how well the city runs, and this city runs well.
Meigs Field? Nothing illegal happened. The lease was done and the land was the property of the city. I wanted Macy’s on State Street to retain the name Marshall Field’s. I wanted the Sears Tower to remain the Sears Tower. We can’t have everything we want.
Gun Control? Is guns for everybody really going to do anything about the crime in our streets? No.
Was Richard M. Daley a benign dictator? In certain ways, and I never doubted that he did the best he could for this city.
And I don’t think anyone else in this town could’ve done better.
Murderopolis? Nothing boring about it this year. As of the end of May they had just about reached the number of murders they had for the total year of 2009. Fun City up there.