The nation sees one Obama, Chicago knows another

As the first African American to secure a major-party presidential nomination, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama has understandably been the subject of much analysis across the country that focuses on race.

But overlooked is another potential political first: Americans have never sent a Chicagoan to the White House.

And one intriguing question posed by the freshman Illinois senator's candidacy is whether they are ready now.

For all his talk elsewhere about change and his national image as a fervent reformer, Obama on the contrary remains fundamentally a product of a Chicago and Illinois political culture renowned for corruption and filled with curious characters who range from felonious to just outrageous.

Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, Obama's political mentor in the state capital of Springfield, is about as old-school as they come. Just last month, the Chicago Democrat publicly ridiculed an attempt to block another pay raise for state legislators by sarcastically declaring: "I've got to get me some food stamps."

Obama's stable of political friends is broadly populated with others like Jones and the recently convicted Tony Rezko. Revealingly, whenever the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee has dabbled in Windy City and Cook County politics in recent years, he has frequently failed to come down on the side of political progressives and reformers.

This little-known side of Obama's political life may well surprise many across the country who see in the well-spoken candidate an entirely different person. Bob Secter and John McCormick have the full story at the Swamp.

--Andrew Malcolm

Photo credit: Associated Press

Comments

[tlsmith1963]

Obama is also the first younger Baby Boomer to have a shot at the White House. Hooray--the younger Boomers finally get out from under the shadow of the older ones!

[Seni]

Barack Obama is too unknown by most americans. He should be scrutinized more by the media so people can leare more about him. He is the least qualified of all the candidates to be president. He cannot bring people together as he says, has no mind to reach across party lines, has problems speaking when he's not reading and can't lead in anything. Obama's 20 year friendship with Wright, Ayers, Rezko, Pfleger and Farrakhan must have given him an anti-american view, just as they have. I don't want anyone with this baggage, elected president.

[Tom J]

So your point is...politics in all other big cites are totally above-board, transparent, honest and clean? lol

I would point out Obama got mandatory police videotaping passed in the Illinois Senate, and that he's gotten some government transparency acts passed in the U.S. Senate.

Connect the dots - Chicago and Illinois clearly demonstrated to him the need for these sorts of laws. He sees a problem, he fixes it. Isn't that exactly the sort of person we want in government?

[madaline winkles]

This article is absurd. Must be a slow news day when you have to resort to this type of nonsense to get people to read your column.