What's your take on the possible Chicago mayoral candidates?...

Hi All,

Here is a chance for you to have your say on pilsenprole.blogspot.com I am curious to hear peoples thoughts on the announcement of Daley's retirement and the possible candidates for his replacement. Part of this is motivated by my embarrassment that I was unaware that Rahm Emanuel was one of those thinking about running. Somehow I seem to have missed that statement he apparently made to that effect earlier this year. But according to WBEZ this week, you would think he had already won the election. He is almost the only candidate their talking about. They did mention Miguel De Valle and Tom Dart today as well, but they seem ready to declare Rahm the winner before the race has even started. I knew about De Valle before even WBEZ announcement because there is a meeting of Latino activist planned for Saturday and I know they're are discussing promoting De Valle, or perhaps Jesus Garcia, who is already running for county commissioner.

What I am surprised by is that none of the likely candidates discussed as interested in the position in previous years has been mentioned. Jesse Jackson Jr. and Luis Gutierrez have been talked about for years as possible mayoral candidates. Why aren't they being mentioned now? Has Jackson's reputation been so damaged by recent political scandals that it is now considered un-feasible? Seems to me he is still pretty popular among most Chicagoans, particular on the South Side. And is Gutierrez just not interested anymore? He would seem an obvious front runner. I know he will be one of the possible Latino candidates discussed this weekend. And why is Bob Fioretti not being mentioned. He was the only one who seemed ready to run, even before Daley announced his retirement plans. But I haven't heard his name mentioned in any of the press coverage.

I guess my other interest in starting this discussion is my fear that Rahm will be our next Mayor. My jubilation at hearing Daley's announcement quickly turned to horror when I heard Rahm was a likely successor. All the above mentioned possibilities would be an improvement on Daley EXCEPT RAHM! The only thing worse than Rahm would be Danny Solis, who it seemed for years was working on becoming Daley's successor, but he is not being mentioned now as a likely candidate.

So what do you think? Who will run? Who is the best of the candidates that have been mentioned so far? Lets hear your comments.

Comments

Best Films of 2023...

Best Films of 2023 Well, it's already early February somehow and award season for the 2023 film year is well underway. 2023 was the first year post-pandemic I was able to see the volume of new films to warrant a top 10 list - a practice I started in 2017 but abandoned after 2020 when like the rest of the world I was mostly forced to watch releases from years past on streaming services. Last year, despite my ongoing poverty, through a host of tricks, streaming services, tight budgets, and the generosity of friends, I was able to see around 40 new releases. For most of 2023, I considered it the YEAR OF DISAPPIONTMENTS . That's still my primary description of the year in film. Long anticipated and ballyhooed new films by Nolan, Scorsese, Fincher, and Wes Anderson to name a few all left me dissatisfied. Not because I am an adoring fan of these directors, but given the high regard with which they are held and given the rich subject matter on which ...

In memory of Rafael Gomez Nieto, the anti-fascist COVID victim two wars could not kill, on the first anniversary of his passing…

When I was an up and coming young socialist high-school, then college student, moving gradually away from Liberation Theology, towards some form of democratic socialist-humanism, the example of the Spanish Revolution of 1936-1939 made a major impact on my thinking. I knew instinctively and without question Stalinism and Maoism had nothing to offer. How could two of the century's most brutal dictators have anything to say about creating a future free of oppression. What I was looking for was historical examples of a new stage in the movement toward full human freedom, one in which working class people were in control of their lives and their future. No bosses, no party bureaucrats, no cults of personality and increasingly, in a departure from my past, no gods. Probably the first and certainly one of the most influential works of revolutionary literature that I encountered was Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia , hence my Orwell attachment to this day. Soon following were the equall...

Financial Crisis Brings Historic Opportunity…

www.whatnowtoons.com Wow, what a difference a few weeks can make. Less than a month ago, every mainstream mass media outlet, U.S. politician, economic analyst, and probably the majority of average citizens would still have been singing the praises of the unfettered free market. Regulation was still a dirty word and privatization was still equated with efficiency and prosperity. Granted, the sand had already begun to shift under this ideological edifice of 30+ years. The sub-prime mortgage crisis and the bursting of the housing bubble had seriously shaken the confidence of some in the system. I had mentioned repeatedly on Labor Express Radio over the Summer the glaring contrast between the soaring gas prices we experienced here in the laissez-faire fuel market of the U.S. as compared to the low and stable prices maintained by the state oil company of our neighbor to the south. But none of that seemed to really change the mainstream belief in this country that free markets solve all prob...

Search This Blog