All Chicago is abuzz with the news that Mayor Daley will not seek a 7th term as mayor of Chicago.
We're seeing two major narratives - how great was Daley as a mayor? And who will succeed him?
The list of potential candidates is growing by the hour, with a number of alderman being frequently mentioned, along with Sherriff Tom Dart and Congressman Luis Gutierrez. Former state senator and current City Clerk Miguel del Ville has just declared that he is in the race. And it's just been two days since the mayor's announcement.
The scariest is White House chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel - who would be a total tool of Wall Street, push the privatization agenda to new heights and exercise all of Daley's brutal style of take-no-prisoner politics with none of the love he has for the city. In fact there is already an online petition drive to keep him out of the race!
All these names have a few things in common.
They are all men.
They are all Democratic elected officials who have been in power collectively for decades.
They all get their campaign funding from the same sources.
They all support Tax Increment Financing (TIFs) and they all supported the 2016 Olympic bid. They have all played get-along go-along politics and they all would be expected to continue the game of play-to-pay Chicago-style politics.
What will really change? And more to the point - Who will be the champion of grass roots economic development, social justice, fully funding public education and reversing the trend towards privatizing everything in sight? Who will make kids our number one priority - making them safe, healthy and smart? Who will make revitalizing our neighborhoods a top priority and stop investing all public resources in the Loop, which rewards the few at the expense of the many? And who will be bold enough to terminate the notorious Tax Increment Finance program and fight for the taxpayers?
I don't see that person in the list of announced or potential candidates? Will the activist, social justice, community development, academic, social service and environmental activist leaders of Chicago come up with someone to oppose the corporate and machine-driven candidate that will surely emerge?
I hope so.