- Rahm might well decide to jump ship and accept Hillary Clinton's request that he run as her vice president. Then tough guy, bold decision maker Rahm wouldn't have to deal with Chicago's ugly, perhaps insurmountable fiscal situation should he actually become vice president.
- Israel is Rahm's middle name, not some nickname like "Chuy." And it is to the state of Israel that Rahm owes primary allegiance, which he can serve quite well as the USA's vice president. Or as President, should anything - heaven forbid (wink, wink)! - happen to Hillary.
Chuy ran an ineffective campaign
In terms of the commercials Chuy chose to air on TV, his campaign was atrocious. For instance, he tried to hammer Rahm on closing 50 Chicago public schools. It's true that Rahm had come across as autocratic when he'd ordered these closings, but what would Chuy suggest instead? That these 50 be reopened? Perhaps Garcia could have asked what Rahm intends to do with the land and buildings belonging to those shuttered schools.
Chuy should have pressed Rahm on his expensive use of bonds to finance the city's day-to-day operations. Or on how rating agencies had lowered Chicago's bonds to a status just above junk bonds. That marked a decrease of five levels during Rahm's watch. And yet, Chuy didn't say squat about any of this.
I have an uneasy feeling that Chuy ran a sham campaign. He, I believe intentionally, campaigned in such a way as to give Rahm an insurmountable advantage.
This part really helped Rahm: Chuy's proposal to hire 1,000 new police officers without saying how he intended to pay for them. A better proposal would have been to redistribute those officers we already have on the payroll. There are vastly underserved areas in Chicago's poor neighborhoods where it's really hard to find a cop when you need one. But in the downtown business district, there are cops all over the place. Too often I've seen clusters of cops standing around downtown doing nothing.
I even saw two behemoths (probably wannabe NFL hopefuls) intimidate a Streetwise newspaper vendor into "moving on." His crime? Trying to sell his newspapers near the Thompson Center. Seems like police brass don't like low-life types being seen in high profile places.
In a very real sense, there are entire neighborhoods in Chicago which are being deprived of their constitutional right to equal protection under the law. Chuy could have at least mentioned that.
As for hiring 1,000 new cops, that would mean current cops being paid overtime would suddenly be deprived of that extra cash. Which would mean they would want a raise to make up the difference next time police contracts come up for renewal. And Mayor Garcia would find it hard to resist pressure from Chicago's largest street gang on this issue. I'm talking about the cops being that street gang.
A Commercial for Chuy
Back on March 11, I posted the following on this blog:
"I want to see Chuy on TV saying:
QUOTE:
When Rahm Emanuel left the Clinton administration, he got a job as an investment banker, earning $16M in three years. Rahm had no training or experience in finance, and yet he got this huge payout. Why? I figure he got paid off for services rendered to the financial elite, or for services about to be rendered. I figure Rahm is working harder for Chicago's financial elite than for the man in the street.
With Rahm as mayor, the rich will get richer and everybody else will be getting crumbs. Is that good enough for you and your children?
:UNQUOTE."
If Chuy had hammered Rahm with this ad from the very beginning, maybe Rahm would have been forced out of his attempt to portray himself as the new, contrite, warm, fuzzy Rahm. He would have instead lapsed into being the asshole he's always been - and still is. People like Rahm don't change without divine intervention or therapy - and I haven't heard he's been the recipient of either.
Rahm Emanuel is a very sick man who's managed to cover up nicely. But when push comes to shove, his true colors will always show themselves.
Some additional observations:
- Turnout among Chicago's registered voters was 39.95%. Of course, this doesn't count those who could have registered but didn't. In an election of this importance, only 4 out of 10 registered voters cast ballots - even though early voting was allowed.
- Rahm got 55.72% of the vote vs. Chuy's 44.28%. This means, only 22.25% of Chicago's registered voters had cast ballots for Rahm vs. 17.7% for Chuy. So, it seems only one out of five of Chicago's voters were enough to assure the reelection of this Israeli agent.
- To those who think casting a ballot doesn't matter: You're right but only insofar as saving Chicago is concerned. Neither Rahm nor Chuy will be able to do that. But you have to change your mindset if you want to affect the long-term picture. If we'd managed, say, a 90% turnout, that would have served notice that We-the-People (including the slumbering Silent Majority) decided to seize the ballot box. This seizure, however, becomes most effective if turnout is huge for the primaries, and is done on a regular basis nationwide. That's where the real action is. For once We serve notice that We're taking back what's Ours, no longer will incumbents be able to count on hard core party faithful to dictate the course of voting in its early, critical stages.
- Among the 50 wards in which there's a black majority, Rahm won 57% of the vote. I attribute that to Barack Obama's endorsement of Rahm. That's a shame, since it will be blacks who will receive the fewest benefits under the rule of the new, improved Rahm - just as they did under the old, autocratic Rahm. It didn't help Chuy's cause, that he seemed so vague about his plan to rescue the city.
- One of Rahm's commercials made much of the fact that Chuy voted for the largest property tax increase in Chicago's history. That was back in 1986, when Chuy was a brand new addition to the City Council under mayor Harold Washington. That increase ($80M) passed without a single vote to spare, so Chuy could have claimed that his vote was a profile in courage. He voted with the independents who supported Mayor Washington, in opposition to the Machine Democrats who wanted a no vote in order to make it next to impossible for the mayor to balance his budget.
- In this recent campaign, Chuy could have thrown down the gauntlet, challenging Rahm to promise not to raise property taxes if elected. This, while Chuy could have promised to raise property taxes, but only so they'd be in line with those taxes in Chicago's neighboring communities which are higher. Property taxes will go up, and both Rahm and Chuy knew this in advance of the election. So Chuy could have forced Rahm to commit in advance, while claiming the courage to admitting this is what would have to be done.
- Chuy could have reminded voters about Rahm's announcement last year to raise property taxes by $250M in order to shore up two city pension funds. It seems the voters had forgotten all about that.
- Chuy might be forgiven his failure (assuming it was an honest failure) if he'd only had more money to match the onslaught of air time Rahm was able to buy for his ads.
- Bottom line? Rahm wins, Hillary wins, black voters lose, big money wins. Chuy? Hard to say. But his supporters definitely lost.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Steven Searle, just another member of the
Virtual Samgha of the Lotus and
former candidate for USA President (in 2008 & 2012)
Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com
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