March 20th, 2012 2:35 PM | Author: Henry D'Andrea
AZPUNDIT
Finally an admission from the First lady. But hey, she didn’t have to tell us this… we already knew.
“For us, it’s the values. The thing that we try to do is make sure — the residence is on the second and the third floor of the White House. And what we want to have happen is when they get off that elevator and walk in to our residence that it feels like the south side of Chicago, the same values, the same rules, the same sense of responsibility,” Michelle Obama said on David Letterman.
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Bee's Note:
How many remember Michele Obama saying (during her husband's campaign in 2008), "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country". Many of us wondered at the time why it had taken her so many years to feel pride in "her" country, but that was then and now, while not one of Michele's biggest fans, by gosh I think she's got it right this time when she states she and her family have brought the "Chicago" values to the White House.Here's a brief history of the politicians (and police) from Chicago - keeping in mind that these are "Chicago values":
The political environment in Chicago in the 1910s and 1920s let organized crime flourish to the point that many Chicago policemen earned more money from pay-offs than from the city.[citation needed]Before the 1930s, the Democratic Party in Chicago was divided along ethnic lines - the Irish, Polish, Italian, and other groups each controlled politics in their neighborhoods.[citation needed] Under the leadership of Anton Cermak, the party consolidated its ethnic bases into one large organization.[citation needed] With the organization behind, Cermak was able to win election as mayor of Chicago in 1931, an office he held until his assassination in 1933.[citation needed]The modern era of politics is still dominated by machine politics in many ways, and the Chicago Democratic Machinebecame a style honed and perfected by Richard J. Daley after his election in 1955.[citation needed] Richard M. Daley, his son, is a former mayor of Chicago and had served for 21 years as mayor and 38 as a “public servant". Daley announced on September 7, 2010 that he will not be seeking re-election.[6] Daley was succeeded by former Obama White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel.
The New Deal of the 1930s and the Great Society of the 1960s gave the Democratic Party access to new funds and programs for housing, slum clearance, urban renewal, and education, through which to dispense patronage and maintain control of the city. [1] Richard J. Daley's mastery of machine politics preserved the Chicago Democratic Machine long after the demise of similar machines in other large American cities.[7] During much of that time, the city administration found opposition mainly from a liberal "independent" faction of the Democratic Party. This included African Americans and Latinos. In the Lakeview/Uptown 46th Ward. The first Latino to announce an aldermanic bid against a Daley loyalist was Jose (Cha-Cha)Jimenez, the Young Lords founder. The independents finally won control of city government in 1983 with the election of Harold Washington. Since Washington's death, Chicago has returned to the leadership of the Democratic organization led by Richard M. Daley, although it may differ from the previous ward-based organization, as it relies on other groups, such as the Hispanic Democratic Organization.[8]A point of interest is the party leanings of the city. For much of the last century, Chicago has been considered one of the largest Democratic strongholds in the United States. For example, the citizens of Chicago have not elected aRepublican mayor since 1927, when William Thompson was voted into office. Today, Brian Doherty is the only Republican council member.
The police corruption that came to the light from the Summerdale Scandals of 1960, where police officers kept stolen property or sold it and kept the cash, was another black eye on the local political scene of Chicago.[9] Eight officers from the Summerdale police district on Chicago's Northwest Side were accused of operating a large-scale burglary ring. News of the scandal was splashed across the city's newspapers and was the biggest police-related scandal the city had ever seen at the time. Mayor Daley appointed a committee to make recommendations for improvements to the police system.
The Daley faction, with financial help from Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., helped elect John F. Kennedy to the office ofPresident of the United States in the 1960 presidential election.[10] The electoral votes from the state of Illinois, with nearly half its population located in Chicago-dominated Cook County, were a deciding factor in the win for Kennedy over Richard Nixon.
Chicago politics have also hosted some very publicized campaigns and conventions. The Democratic Party decided on Harry S. Truman as the vice-presidential candidate at the 1944 Democratic National Convention. The 1968 Democratic National Convention was the scene of mass political rallies and discontent, leading to the famous trial of the Chicago Seven. Seven defendants — Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, and Lee Weiner—charged with conspiracy, inciting to riot, and other charges related to protests.
Home-town columnist Mike Royko wrote satirically that Chicago's motto (Urbs in Horto or "City in a Garden") should instead be Ubi est mea, or "Where's Mine?[11] READ MORE
Yes, Michele, you and your husband did bring "Chicago" values to the White House! Unfortunately, "Chicago" values are not the values of America. Come November, Americans will return the favor by sending you and your family on a long vacation - back to Chicago. My suggestion to you would be to stay out of politics once you return to Chicago, or you may wind up in the same position as Chicago's former governor, Rod Blagojevich. He is the latest of several Illinois governors and other prominent state politicians to be incarcerated. And, the beat goes on ..... (see last week's corruption in Chicago)