Or, Does Mayor Daley get a free pass?
I've never met the Reverend Doctor Al Sharpton, but I'm willing to bet he was in Seventh Heaven, or whatever the public relations equivalent of Seventh Heaven would be, when he saw he made the cover of Chicago's brighter paper challenging the all-powerful Mayor Daley. As a political introduction, you could hardly ask for more.
Sharpton is setting up shop in Chicago in order to apply pressure to the Mayor's administration for a perceived negligence when it comes to stomping out police brutality against minorities. He may also be here to expand his own political base, which to date has been primarily the boroughs of New York City. A play for Jesse Jackson, Sr.-like status as the preeminent African-American political figure.
Whatever his reasons, he is here now and out of the gate he took a swipe at the city's established so-called opposition organizations. He said that police brutality in Chicago needs to be addressed, and that to date Mayor Daley has more generally been "getting a pass." The implication is not only that Mayor Daley is doing wrong, but that the opposition is inept, and thereby maybe even... kind of... complicit? Ouch.
But does Mayor Daley get a pass? It's actually a pretty good question. People sort of toss it off as a no-brainer, given his huge electoral margins and seeming immunity from prosecution — of course he does. How else could such a tyrannical serial gentrifier enjoy such popularity?
The media in Chicago has hardly given Daley a pass; the merest whiff of scandal gets reported on, makes the nightly news, and can usually expect three to six weeks of assaults by John Kass at the front of the Trib. From major debacles like Hired Truck or smaller, the-mayor's-cousin's-brother's-kid-got-a-city-job style dust-ups, the Sun-Times will blare it across the front page, the radio and TV political reporters will hammer it home, and you know Phil Ponce's going to be all over that piece.
The Mayor's few actual political enemies — and in terms of outright hostile aldermen, the only one that comes to mind is now-former Alderman Dorothy Tillman — like to jump on his scandals to get their names in the news and take a rare opportunity to chip away at the mayor's popularity. The city's progressive networks — like the labor movement generally and community organizations such as ACORN or the Organizations of the North East, or the Grassroots Collaborative — are fairly comfortable opposing the Mayor at least through proxy fights. Believe me, there're no passes coming from that crowd.
The only people giving the mayor a pass, it seems, are the entire rest of Chicago. It's a chicken-and-egg thing. Mayor Daley's popularity makes pissing him off politically dangerous for the aldermen and other area elected officials. Therefore they don't challenge the many policies they could organize an opposition movement around. Lacking such a movement, people fail to recognize the many policies that are probably screwing them in one way or another. Therefore Mayor Daley remains popular. Vicious circle?
Not really. Time will tell what Mayor Daley's legacy will be, but there can be no doubt that for whatever negative impact the Mayor has had, he has also done a whole lot of good. In the long run, we may find out that the good wasn't worth the bad, but there is a mix there. Bravery and conviction might just be enough to break the cycle. Determination to oppose and a capacity for organizing could be just what it takes to focus general disaffection and amplify it into powerful opposition.
Now, if Al Sharpton — an outsider with loyalties to no political faction — were to team up with a white or Latino politician on an issue, why, that individual could conceivably have a compelling enough inroads to the African-American community to build a voting coalition that could cement a victory in 2011.
Which would make Al Sharpton a pretty important dude.
irishpirate / August 8, 2007 12:16 PM
Ramsin,
you ignorant slut.
First, Tillman and Daley were all friendly and kissy face the last few years. She endorsed him and he endorsed her.
They both enjoy wearing funny hats so I assume they built that into a working relationship.
As for Sharpton....thpppt to him. He actually helps Daley. Reminds large groups of white folks that there is black opposition out there. That will solidify Daley's pasty faced white vote.
Right now I can hear shrieks about Al Sharpton emanating from the furthest reaches of the 19th Ward.
"EEEEK, a scary black politiician. Whaddya want. A black mayor. Support Daley".