Oprah quits and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley is displeased (only he'd put it a little differently)

According to Chicago Mayor Richard "Have a Nice Day" Daley, you can just blame (credit) that dad-gummed media again for chasing that Windy City institution Oprah off of television after compiling a personal federal reserve of only about $2.3 billion.

Oprah has announced she'll close down her daily syndicated chatfest in 2011 (see her tearful announcement video below). But she likely won't be gone long. O, gee, whatever will she call her own channel?

The diva of daytime TV, who's seen the ratings slip some since her prominent presidential campaign involvement, says she's retiring because it's time to leave and it's cold in Chicago and it's warm at her palace in Montecito, California. Also, she's got her man in the White House now.

Chicago's Democrat mayor hasn't been in a real good mood since his president failed to acquire the 2016 Summer Olympics for his adopted hometown.

According to Da Mayor, the real issue over the global star's departure is the stink the media churned up over the city closing down North Michigan Avenue for two days in September to accommodate Oprah's season-opening show taping.

The Chicago Sun-Times quotes the longtime mayor son of a longtime mayor as putting it this way:

She loves this city, and I will be talking to her, but again, that became a big rhubarb of the Chicago press: Beat up Oprah. And so, you keep kicking people, and people will leave. Simple as that.

Speaking in his usual straight face, and strangely in the past tense, Daley....

... also said: "I think she was the most successful woman that we will ever know in the history of this country." That should warm up the temperature for her -- and the rest of the planet.

According to sympathetic city officials always eager for the municipal publicity, the 48-hour closure of that main drag cost only $54,832, which Oprah's company repaid. So what's the big deal? asks the head of the Democrat machine that allowed Barack Obama to emerge on the South Side as long as he didn't make too many waves.

That price to the city, however, doesn't count the cost of increased blood pressures in thousands of notoriously genial Chicago drivers forced to divert to crowded State or Wabash Streets. No reimbursements there.

The mayor's theory may be right, although that would not account for why he and his late father stuck around town for so very many years despite their share of media bashings, scandals, trials and the like. If you have an opinion to share with the mayor, his door is always rarely open. But Daley's office phone is: 312-744-4045.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: George Burns / Harpo via Associated Press; Chicago Tribune (Mayor Daley on a good day).

Fox News is evil -- unless you're selling an Obama book

Ah, the flexibility of politics. You gotta love it.

The Obama administration has in recent weeks picked a silly fight with the Fox News Channel to help keep impatient supporters on its own left from rebelling too much. If you've got a common enemy, you've got to stay together, right? Even if you're unhappy with the progressive progress on numerous Democratic fronts.

It's a silly fight for several reasons. It makes a president who must face down other nuclear powers look timorous and thin-skinned about something as inconsequential as the most popular U.S. cable news channel.

It ignores the fact that more than a third of Fox News viewers are Democrats. So the David Axelrod-Anita Dunn communications strategists are willfully forfeiting an opportunity to get their message out to millions more likely supporters.

And, worst, to pick and prolong a partisan fight with lowly D.C. journalists goes directly against the fundamental message that Barack Obama made a keynote of his $750-million holy campaign last year: changing the partisan tone in Washington once and for all. Change to believe in. No podemos si.

As a result, you haven't seen Obama administration officials interviewed much over there on Fox News, despite the invitations.

Come Thursday night, that won't change. That's because David Plouffe is not an official member of the Obama administration. He is, however, the single individual arguably most responsible for getting Obama into the White House.

Why will the Obama campaign manager appear, you might ask?

Because he wants to sell his book ("The Audacity to Win"), would be the answer. Which is apparently different than selling a political message. So Plouffe, who still loyally touts the official Obama line (he was nattering at Fox News again over the weekend on other outlets), has apparently received a presidential dispensation to appear on the evil empire.

Our diligent colleague Mark Silva, who broke this story, has much more detail here.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: David Plouffe. Credit: Associated Press

In her own words: CNN's Campbell Brown on Fox News and Obama

Every once in a while we come upon a letter, speech, video or commentary that's simply worth sharing in its entirety without comment. Well, OK, with somewhat less comment.

Wednesday Campbell Brown of CNN did her own commentary on the Obama-Fox News fight.

There are several reasons for the White House, any White House, to have public fights. One of the most useful is to keep your own folks in line on your side against those mean, evil guys over there.

An Obama senior advisor, David Axelrod, used to be in the print media himself. He knows Fox News isn't going to change because he and others complain. Why should it? Fox News was doing fine before the fight and even better audience-wise since it started.

Brown says she thought the fight was silly. She used to work at NBC. But her new network hasn't done so well in the recent ratings war. So why not get in on the scrap?

She has some pretty clear thoughts, however, including a revealing and awkward moment during her pointed interview of Valerie Jarrett, another senior Obama aide.

Watch especially when Brown asks Jarrett, well, OK, Fox News is biased, what about MSNBC over there on the left? Why are you only singling out Fox News?

Jarrett squirms slightly and pivots to a different tack, as public figures are coached to do for the quickly-moving spoken word on TV. That way they can avoid a direct answer and resume talking their own message line. She does it twice.

But it's harder to hide the verbal dodge when words are laid out in print, as below, to be read and re-read if necessary. To be candid, CNN has been the target of bias claims too, for instance, during the Democratic primaries when some party opponents -- gee, now which Illinois candidate would that be? -- suggested that CNN should stand for Clinton News Network. And others such as Andrew Klavan are making fun of the network's ratings slide with suggested new mottoes.

We also have a complete video of the Brown commentary below, so you can compare how the words change from print to video and vice versa.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Campbell Brown's Cutting Through the Bull commentary on CNN, Oct. 28, 2009:

The White House war with Fox News has gotten a lot of attention lately. According to the PEW Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, it was among the top 5 most reported stories last week.

Now, I’ve largely ignored it on this show mostly because I thought it was silly. I mean really. The

Angry taxpayers burn bank execs in effigy, demand end to using bailout dollars to fight bank reform

Remember those summer protests against healthcare reform, when angry conservatives overwhelmed congressional town hall meetings with accusations that President Obama was a closet socialist?

Well, apparently the Right does not have a lock on voter rage.

Today, for the third day in a row, taxpayers, mobilized against the big banks for taking $17.8 trillion in government bailout money and then using some of it to lobby against reforms, are gathering at the American Bankers Assn.'s annual meeting in Chicago.

True, these are organized protests, spearheaded by the Service Employees International Union and other advocacy groups that support the White House effort to enact reforms.

Still, the protesters are making a splash. Yesterday they took over the lobby of Goldman Sachs headquarters in the Windy City, demanding the dismantling of banks deemed "too big to fail."

And Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin joined the protests, urging voters "to push back" against the business lobby's efforts to fight financial reform.

Inside the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers, industry officials defended their practices. "You did not make any abusive subprime loans; you did not take big bonuses for products that later blew up," ABA President Edward Yingling said during his opening remarks, blaming a few bad apples for last fall's financial collapse. "We can never again let bad actors and bad policies create a financial disaster."

-- Johanna Neuman

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Photo: Reuters

What if Obama really wants a fight over gay pajamas?

A little something to think about:

Have you too noticed that very few accidents seem to happen around Barack Obama?

Sure, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright association blew up in his face; that was just a matter of time and came not from Republicans but from fellow Democrats. One day the Harvard-educated, freshman senator from Illinois thought there were 57 states. He didn't know Canada had a prime minister, not a president. And it took some doing for the man to grudgingly give in to that stupid lapel flag pin thing.

The Geithner-Daschle-Solis back-tax deals were also messy.

But those gaffes happened early in the presidential campaign or the administration. He and his team have been touching every conceivable base at every opportunity, from tonight's Latin music fiesta at the White House to marking Leif Erikson Day to earn the Viking vote.

In fact, Obama's devoted so much time cultivating and nurturing these political niches that critics credibly suggest he might profitably invest less effort in the perpetual campaign mode -- flying off to Copenhagen to take an embarrassingly blunt public hit for the Chicago machine and chatting up that serial philanderer on the CBS late show -- and put in a lot more shirt-sleeve time in the Oval Office being the new president at the old desk.

On Saturday night before he was asked about "don't ask-don't tell" Obama told the banqueting but impatient Human Rights Campaign crowd (full text right here) all the Democratically correct things it wanted to hear before the big march for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) equality the next day.

So it was very surprising -- even jarring -- when on Sunday CNBC's John Harwood, long a respected political journalist, reported a conversation with an anonymous White....

Now, Obama wins Motor Trend Car of Year Award

It's been quite a two successful weeks for President Obama.

First, he saved Illinois and federal taxpayers countless millions of rescue dollars by helping to lose Chicago's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics in the very first round of voting.

Then, even as he slept on the 289th day of his first term's 1,461 days, Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Democratic president said he was humbled by his selection and millions agreed the ex-state senator should be.

Especially since: 1) the peace prize recipient is overseeing the prosecution of two wars at the moment while contemplating a recommended escalation, and 2) the Nobel nominations were due by Feb. 1, the 12th day of the Obama administration. By which time the new president had barely promised to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility within one year, an absolute deadline now absolutely hopeless.

Obama was pleased to be the latest in a long line of Democratic presidents to receive the internationally recognized award. Jimmy Carter got the Nobel Peace Prize for years of work culminating, finally, in a lasting peaceful settlement of the long Middle East conflict, as each day's news from there demonstrates.

Bill Clinton, oh, wait, he didn't win a Nobel, which explains his silence since Friday and the ...

White House puts on a brave face over Olympics loss

So the "O team," President and First Lady Obama (two, count ‘em), and Oprah Winfrey failed to carry the day in Copenhagen, and the world’s athletes will samba their way to Rio de Janeiro in 2016. The real question is will there be a political fallout?

It sounds silly to think that something happening seven years from now could have a political effect on this president. Obama is facing issues including healthcare reform, a still struggling economy and international concerns such as Iran’s nuclear ambitions and what to do about Afghanistan. Will people focus on a failed Olympic bid?

Perhaps a clue to how seriously the White House is thinking about the effect was top political aide David Axelrod taking to the airwaves to inoculate the body politic. "I am proud of this president for going to make the case for this country,” Axelrod told MSNBC. “I think this country can be proud of that. Again, we’re....

Obama on Chicago's Olympics bid: 'The most American of American cities'

After an all-night flight from Washington, President Barack Obama made a rhetorical pitch for the International Olympics Committee to award the 2016 Summer Games to his adopted hometown of Peoria.

No, it was Chicago.

And he called the Windy City "the most American of American cities." So much for that recent love affair with Pittsburgh.

The president was introduced by his wife Michelle, who also made a plea for the Games to come to her hometown, in fact, to her neighborhood, invoking detailed personal memories of her late father. The text of her remarks is here. Both transcripts were provided by the White House.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Remarks of President Obama to the International Olympics Committee

President Rogge, ladies and gentlemen of the International Olympic Committee:

I come here today as a passionate supporter of the Olympic and Paralympic Games; as a strong believer in the movement they represent; and a proud Chicagoan. But above all, I come as a faithful representative of the American people, and we look forward to welcoming the world to the shores of Lake Michigan and the heartland of our nation in 2016.

To host athletes and visitors from every corner of the globe is a high honor and a great responsibility. And America is ready and eager to assume that sacred trust. We are a nation that has always....

What Michelle Obama told the International Olympic Committee about her Chicago (and father)

Remarks by First Lady Michelle Obama to the International Olympics Committee

MRS. OBAMA: President Rogge, ladies and gentlemen, Mesdames et Messieurs of the International Olympic Committee: I am honored to be here.

I was born and raised on Chicago's South Side, not far from where the Games would open and close. Ours was a neighborhood of working families -- families with modest homes and strong values.

Sports were what brought our community together. They strengthen our ties to one another. 

Growing up, when I played games with the kids in my neighborhood, we picked sides based not on who you were, but what you could bring to the game. Sports taught me self-confidence, teamwork, and how to compete as an equal.

Sports were a gift I shared with my dad -- especially the Olympic Games.

Some of my best memories are sitting on my dad's lap, cheering on Olga and Nadia, Carl Lewis, and ...

Michelle Obama: Copenhagen Olympic politics just like Iowa caucuses

In 2008, voters in the Iowa Caucus -- famous for their quirky picks -- gave a little-known Democrat named Barack Obama his first victory, propelling him toward the White House.

Now, First Lady Michelle Obama is in Copenhagen, stumping for Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. And last night, at a pep-rally dinner for 300 supporters of Chicago's bid, she likened the race in Denmark to that contest way back when in Iowa.

"As my husband would say, we are fired up and ready to go in here," she said, echoing the slogan that generated so much excitement on the campaign trail last year. Comparing the contest in Denmark to the one in Iowa, the first lady added, “Nobody makes the decision until they’re sitting there. So the next few days really provide us with a real opportunity to hold some hands, to have some conversations, to share our visions.”

President Obama joins his wife for the final pitch tomorrow -- even as Oprah Winfrey and other Chicago luminaries makes the rounds, lobbying the International Olympic Committee for votes.

The trip is not without political peril for the president.

At home, House Minority Leader John Boehner has criticized the trip, slamming Obama for "going ... off to Copenhagen when we've got serious issues here at home that need to be debated."

Abroad, if Chicago loses the bid, it would count as a defeat for Obama too. And Chicago's entry is by no means a sure bet.

With Rio de Janeira apparently the favorite, other countries with cities in the running are not sitting by idly. "President Obama is an extraordinary personality," said Spain's Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., son of the former IOC president, part of a delegation pushing for Madrid. "We will bring His Majesty the King of Spain, that's one, and Prime Minister Zapatero, that's two. So that's two against one."

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: First Lady Michelle Obama meets members of the international press corps in Copenhagen Wednesday. Credit: Getty Images

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