The Chicago Way

By now everyone who follows politics has heard the phrase, “The Chicago Way” as a term to define the method the current administration is running the White House. This phrase harks back to the rough-and-tumble style of politics that runs amuck in the windy city. This method is simply defined as a dog-eat-dog world for political survival. In the city of Chicago, their famous political phrase is “Vote early and Vote Often”- The Chicago Way.

Its main goals are to target their political enemies who disagree with their policies and try to marginalize and destroy them. They use many tactics to accomplish this and we are now witnessing just how The Chicago Way works as they call out different industries and portray them as the enemies with the help of the President’s fawning media.

Fox News, The Chamber of Commerce, Insurance Companies, Doctors, and Republicans have all been targeted by the administration for not bending to their will. The administration is seasoned in these types of political games and so far has done very well in turning the tide against their perceived “enemies”.

Many of White House staffers are savvy and seasoned veterans trained in this bare-knuckle style of win-at- all-costs Chicago Politics. Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod, John Podesta and Valerie Jarrett have all been schooled by the city’s unquestioned Democratic leader -Mayor Richard Daley- whose family has held the city under its corrupt thumb for the last four decades.   

Daley’s Chicago Way includes giving out high paying jobs to family members and friends -including Valerie Jarrett who worked in the mayor’s office (her father was a close Daley associate), being investigated for numerous pay-for-play schemes, one which included giving his friends and drinking buddies, white guys with mob connections, $100 million in city affirmative action contracts, all the while receiving Obama’s support and encouragement while he was in the State Senate.

Why didn’t the master of “Hope and Change” denounce these many cases of criminal corruption? - Because his wife Michelle Obama- was working in the Mayor’s office –hand- in-hand with Mayor Daley-That’s the Chicago Way.

Barack Obama’s first taste of the Chicago way of politics occurred when he decided to run against the much liked civil rights activist, Alice Palmer who had previously lost her bid at a national congressional seat in congress and decided to re-run for the State Senate seat she had  previously held.

Ms. Palmer-at the time was a good friend and mentor to Obama- and was a well-liked state representative for years in the Windy City. Many people advised the young Obama to wait his turn for a later state senate run. After all, he was still a young, ambitious fellow who had practiced Civil Rights Law at a Chicago Law firm for only 3 years at the time.

 However, he was an ardent student of the Saul Alinsky methods of obtaining power through community agitation and organizing and put these practices to good use in his first real campaign against Ms. Palmer.

After Ms. Palmer had secured the necessary number of signatures to run as a candidate, Mr. Obama sent his aides to the courthouse to carefully examine all of Alice Palmer's signatures to see if enough could be disallowed to knock her off the ballot altogether.  And indeed, some of Alice's signatures were fake. 

The aides also found enough other fake signatures on opponents' ballot initiatives to knock them off the ballot as well. This maneuver cleared the path for an easy victory for Obama in his first successful run for the Illinois State Senate- That’s The Chicago Way.

Now that they are running the White House, Obama and Emanuel are creating a new list of perceived enemies as they go about discrediting those who are not in lockstep with their progressive agendas- That’s The Chicago Way.

Obama’s current Chief-of-Staff, the foul-mouthed Rahm Emanuel, whose been quoted as saying, “F#$% Republicans,” and a Chicago native, is a typically colorful figure, known for once mailing a rotting fish to a political opponent and while at a post-election dinner in 1992 he repeatedly stabbed a steak knife into a table as he yelled out the names of those he considered President Bill Clinton's enemies.

Currently he is responsible for leading the charge against Fox News in an attempt to harm the reputation of the news channel. He even went as far as barring President Obama from appearing on the network and has refused his staff to appear on the channel- That’s The Chicago Way.

Obama recently called out The Chamber of Commerce for going against the administration’s stance on Cap-and- Trade legislation and new consumer protection regulations because the Chamber thinks it will end up killing jobs in some of the thousands of businesses it represents.

Many democrats are anxious and frustrated that the White House would go after such a group which helps to promote and protect businesses and who have traditional always had a great working relationship with past administrations.

"The chamber represents thousands of businesses . . . most of which are apolitical," said Rep. James P. Moran, a Virginia Democrat. "I'm not sure that that is the appropriate target to go after."

Instead the Obama administration is trying to create its own “Business Roundtable” by encouraging large businesses to drop out of the Chamber and work directly with the White House. So far Apple and Nike have both dropped themselves from the Chamber with many companies now beginning to follow suit.

Who’s behind this major strategy? – Chicago Native- Valerie Jarrett, who added this to the change:

"Our strategy is to reach out directly to the business community," said Valerie Jarrett, the president's liaison to the corporate world. "This is a shift. Previously, the chamber had served as the sole intermediary for business. That's not our approach."
Jarrett also praised the Business Roundtable, saying that it brings member CEOs to White House meetings in addition to Washington lobbyists. - That’s The Chicago Way     

Another example of Obama’s masterful use of the Chicago Way is when he began pushing his healthcare plan and initially accused doctors of performing useless and expensive operations on patients to collect a bigger paycheck.

When the AMA quickly denounced his comments perhaps Obama’s team realized it wasn’t smart to criticize the very people you’re trying to aggressively support in your new Health Care plan, they quickly shifted gears and began targeting the Insurance Company as the culprits behind our “broken” Health Care system. They accused them of making too much money, for dropping patients who had acne and other outrageous claims- with no factual support but claims that the media can hold on to and report as “real” news to help the public back the plan.

The Chicago Way will now be “The Washington Way” for the next four years as his advisors try to govern the only way they know how- through bullying and intimidation. After all this was the same man who told a campaign crowd in Philadelphia,

“If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun."

            To bad he doesn’t act this tough globally- he’s too busy bowing to Saudi Kings, talking with Iran, and accommodating Russia and China in any way possible, that’s not The Chicago Way - that’s “The Obama Way”.