Chicago Daily Observer

The Chicago Tribune has dedicated some editorial resources to reading other publications to find out more about Todd Stroger’s planned reorganization of the Cook County Hospitals management. The Editorial Board at the Trib tells us that they do not like what they are reading in other publications about this reorg.

The Tribune’s coverage of the shakeup has been limited to one story, which also questions how independent this board can be. It is a good question, but still begs for some background. How does the Tribune hold off on a story like this for a week without publishing any details of the proposal? Is the crack staff at the Tribune so busy telling us that Barak Obama is probably not a Muslim (today’s hapless lead op-ed, and similarly hapless feature in the Tribune’s “Seeker” blog) or digging into Drew Peterson’s Ebay sales to skip the #1 ... Read More...

I have a naïve request for the balance of the presidential campaign: I don’t want to hear any candidate say one more thing about “creating jobs” or “bringing back jobs” or doing anything with the word “jobs” in it.

That might seem strange at a time when the economy is teetering on the brink of recession, and has eclipsed Iraq as the No. 1 issue on many voters’ minds.

Here’s my reason: Other than during the depths of the Great Depression, the government doesn’t “create jobs.” (World War II created most of the jobs then anyway, and I’m not sure that’s the direction we should go.) Instead, a sensible government should help to create a skilled workforce and a decent business climate. If it does that, the jobs will take care of themselves.

Five years ago I wrote that the Democratic trend in Illinois was so strong we might never see a Republican governor again—barring some major scandal. Well, the past year or two set the stage for a GOP revival, but the Democrats are probably too smart to let it happen.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich is drowning in a cesspool of financial scandals, personal betrayals, bizarre antics and political miscues so pervasive as to drive his favorables down to Ahmadinejad territory—and the worst may be yet to come. I speak, as many do, of indictment.

His recent last-minute, grandstand play on the mass-transit bill—injecting free rides for seniors—will not rescue him from the feds, nor will it raise his scrawny support numbers much past Britney Spears’.

I cannot explain the overall behavior of this unusual politician because I am a political analyst, not a psychoanalyst. Let me confess, however, I voted for ... Read More...

As a life-long Democrat, I could never understand the anger that the Clintons evoked from my father – a conservative Republican whose face choked red throughout the 1990s at the mere mention of Bill Clinton in polite conversation. Although not as vocal about Hillary, he didn’t like her either.

I kept my relationship with my father alive throughout the 1990s by not mentioning the name Bill Clinton at family gatherings – even when I was angry at what I thought was an unjust impeachment effort which my local Congressman Henry Hyde helped lead.

My father’s constant refrain throughout the 1990s was that he saw a pattern of deceitful, unethical behavior by President Clinton. Nonsense, I thought.

At the time, I believed Clinton was almost Reagan-like in his ability to deftly deflect public criticism and undermine his opponents at the same time.

However, as I have witnessed the Clinton husband-wife-tag-team in ... Read More...

Sun-Times religion writer Susan Hogan/Albach reprises her rundown on how Chicago churchmen prospered in the wake of the Rev. Daniel McCormack scandal in this (farewell) blog. She did well in her short time at that newspaper, now being axed beyond recognition in paroxysms of budget-cutting.

Two years ago this month, the Rev. Daniel McCormack was arrested for molesting boys. He’s in prison now. And the top leaders in the Archdiocese of Chicago who might have stopped him have risen in their church positions.

It will be remembered as Black Tuesday. Or the Big Black Blowout. In the Feb. 5, 2008 Democratic primary, black candidates will be nominated for three Cook county offices (state’s attorney, recorder, and clerk of circuit court), two appellate court vacancies, and Barack Obama will win the state’s presidential primary.
Here’s an analysis of the Obama-Clinton race and the Board of Review (2nd District), plus predictions by Chicago Daily Observer editorial board chairman Tom Roeser and political analyst Russ Stewart on Roeser’s WLS show concerning a multitude of Chicago, Cook County, and congressional races.
President (Democratic): black Democrats excelled in the 1983, 1992, 2000 and 2004 primaries. In 2008, it’s a replication of 1992 and 2004. Black turnout in Chicago and Cook County will be huge. Obama wins, but by how much?
In the 1992 U.S. Senate primary, black recorder Carol Moseley Braun got 409,574 votes ... Read More...