WALLOPING WONDERBOY

2/15/11

One has to stop to wonder if the political skills of Rahm Emanuel have been vastly overestimated by the squad of sycophants that passes for the local political press corps. How dare I even venture to question the “Rahm as Superman” scenario that our town’s fawning media have been painting ever since their man on a white horse deigned to favor us by volunteering to be anointed by the press, the Daley family, and the “business community” as our mayor?

One example of a choice that leaves one questioning Rahm’s judgment is the gratuitous slap that Little Big Man took at a fixture in the city’s power structure during last night’s debate:

“The City Council has to share in the sacrifice because residents will be sharing in sacrifice, which means if Ed Burke has six police officers, that just can’t continue. There will be reform of committees. There will be some committees closed, chairmanships will change.”

Given the proximity of the discussion of committee chairmanships’ changing to the mention of Ed Burke’s police detail, one does not have to be too imaginative to see which committee Mr. Emanuel considers ripe for a change. One doe not have to necessarily oppose the policy merits of Mr. Emanuel’s case against Mr. Burke to question its political merits.

By singling out Ed Burke, the most powerful alderman in the City Council, for special criticism, the young and perhaps naïve Mr. Emanuel is performing the political equivalent of waving a red flag in front of the proverbial bull. Mr. Burke has endorsed Gery Chico for mayor and, reportedly, is working hard to elect his former protégé, so Mr. Emanuel, not having spent much time in the last few years (or ever, for that matter) in Chicago, may feel he has nothing to lose by taking a stab at Mr. Burke. However, what Mr. Emanuel may be doing is transforming Mr. Burke’s support for Mr. Chico from a “I like Gery Chico; he used to work for me, I don’t want twenty years of another tyrannical mayor bent on emasculating the City Council, and I never miss an opportunity to stick a fork in the Daley family’s collective eye” type of support to a “I better do everything I possibly can to keep this North Shore sophisticate out of the Council because, if I don’t, I could lose much of what I value in my professional life, holy cow, this thing is desperate now” type of support. Not a great idea, especially considering the political and financial (Think The Burnham Committee and The Friends of Ed Burke; not the type of money that Rahm can raise in Washington, New York, and especially Hollywood, but certainly enough to make Mr. Chico competitive should there be a run-off.) resources that Mr. Burke can bring to bear.

Further, Ed Burke is not the only committeeman who is backing Gery Chico and who is decidedly uncomfortable with Mr. Emanuel. These fellas, too, can bring plenty to the election table and have been further incentivized to do so by the clear indication Mr. Emanuel gave of how he will treat the City Council when he said

“There will be some committees closed, chairmanships will change.”

Rahm’s fans, inspired by the notion that a genuine fine wine sipping North Shore transplant living in one of the city’s “premier” wards can stand up to, and even push around, those nasty, crude fellows who inhabit those tacky wards on the city’s fringe, are probably gloating at Mr. Emanuel’s jab at Mr. Burke, sure that it is yet another sign of Rahm’s toughness, of his “take no prisoners,” punish those who dare punish you approach to politics. I will only repeat quote what I said on this topic in my 9/10/10 post PRESCIENT MR. PONTIFICATOR? NOT YET.

Can you imagine Rahm Emanuel, even a Mayor Rahm Emanuel, “coming in, pointing his finger at people and calling them mother------s?” when the “them” in that sentence includes the likes of Mike Madigan, Ed Burke, Jimmy DeLeo, Jerry Joyce, Skinny Sheahan, John Daley, Dick Mell, Ed Smith, etc., etc.? That might work with the lily-livered twits who inhabit Washington, D.C., but, believe me, it’s not going to work in this town. And Emanuel’s just full enough of himself to think he can treat the real guys that way.

While that quote is somewhat dated by the news that the likes of Messrs. Daley and Mell are firmly in Rahm’s camp and hence will not feel the presumed new mayor’s wrath (but, perhaps, rather, his own obsequiousness, but I digress), the general point remains the same: Rahm can think he’s a real tough guy; after all, the press keeps telling him so. But he better not try this hard guy routine with the real hard guys who hold sway in this city.

While, as I have said ad nauseam during this campaign, making predictions about this race is precarious, but it sure looks like Mr. Emanuel will win this election, maybe even next week. So why is he running the risk of antagonizing Ed Burke, et. al.? Not only does he dial up their incentive to defeat him, but, should they fail, he will need these guys to run the city. It makes no sense, especially for the modern day Metternich the press would have us believe Rahm Emanuel has become.