Obama's Chicago Homecoming is Not So Sweet

[Geee]

Washington Examiner:

Obama's Chicago homecoming is not so sweet
By: CHRIS STIREWALT
Political Editor
May 27, 2010

It's been 15 months since President Obama went home sweet home to Chicago.

And as he heads west for the Memorial Day weekend, a lot of Chicagoans are wondering why it took so long.

But as the administration tries to shake off claims that it used Chicago-style political tactics on Rep. Joe Sestak, it should be obvious why Obama hasn't been home much.

Obama moved to Chicago to establish his political base, but now the city is a political liability.

» Two of Obama's former allies, Rod Blagojevich and Antoin Rezko, ran afoul of the Justice Department.

» The state's Democratic Governor Pat Quinn, vaulted into office after Blago's impeachment, is sucking wind in his bid for a full term.

» The Democratic Senate candidate, state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, is flailing in his effort to hold onto the president's former Senate seat (currently in the clutches of Roland Burris).

Giannoulis, it should be recalled, was one of those Obama intimates who assured reporters that the president would hang on to his Hyde Park lifestyle.

"There are some little things that make him enjoy life, and he's not just going to give all of that up," Giannoulias said after the 2008 election and before his own career became subprime.

But Obama seemed to give it up rather easily.

All Chicagoans have to show for having Obama in the White House is one presidential trip home, a failed bid to get the 2016 Olympics and a proposal to relocate the terrorists at Guantanamo Bay to a state prison in northern Illinois.

I've heard of people growing apart, but trying to send somebody Kahlid Sheik Mohammed is grounds for divorce.

In February of 2009, when Obama was last home, tour groups still mobbed his Hyde Park neighborhood for a peek at his house or a snapshot of his barber shop, and the president was promising to get back to the city every six or eight weeks.

Most presidents emulate George Washington, who emulated that noble Roman Cincinnatus by returning to his beloved Mount Vernon. Ranches, farms and coastal compounds are the norm.

Obama was heralded as our first president who would take his time off in the big city, hanging out at the co-ops, coffee shops and soul food joints of Hyde Park with the academics, artists and funky folks of his old neighborhood.

"The White House will be a home away from home. It is really not goodbye. Rather, Chicago will say, 'See you soon.'" Or at least that's what Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett told the Washington Post before Obama's inauguration.

But the summer wind blew Obama up to a Kennedyesque compound in Martha's Vineyard last August, and the Christmas season found the first family at a villa in Hawaii. And for quick getaways, he and his family have frequented the presidential retreat at Camp David.

The Democratic takeover of Illinois that propelled Obama into the Senate has unraveled rather badly. And turning up in Chicago invites unhappy connections.

Aside from big fish like Blago, Rezko and Giannoulias, the city is a minefield of politically unpleasant things.

One of Obama's closest friends, Dr. Eric Whitaker, is wrestling a federal subpoena for information about a community health program he administered.

And if Obama were to pop in an organic ice cream store on a Hyde Park stroll, the press pool might find him bumping into radically chic William Ayers.

And this is no time for unsavory associations.

The claims by Sestak, a congressman from Philadelphia's suburbs who bucked the White House and took on Arlen Specter in a primary battle, are gaining traction.

Republicans are calling louder and louder for a special prosecutor to investigate Sestak's claim that someone in the White House called him with a job offer in exchange for not challenging Specter. That would be a felony.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs has repeatedly assured reporters that the administration conducted an internal investigation and has cleared itself. There was a discussion with Sestak about the race, but nothing illegal.

The line is not wearing very well, and reporters speculate daily as to which Obama aide Sestak is talking about.

Most eyes are on Obama's fellow Chicagoans: chief of staff Rahm Emanuel or perhaps adviser David Axelrod.

So Chicagoans should not be offended that Obama stayed away for 15 months. After all, he brought so much of their city with him to the White House.