HIS CHICAGO IS TOO PROGRESSIVE FOR THE REACTIONARY PARTY:

A Tale of Two Daleys: Chicago's mayor doesn't have a theory of governance. He just likes to solve problems. (JOSEPH EPSTEIN, February 24, 2005 Wall Street Journal)

Rich Daley appears to have no theory of government, but merely a boundless appetite for governing. He is a fix-it, a problem-solving, man, treating the city of Chicago as if it were an unending episode of "This Old House"--and he seems to be turning the old heap into a damn stately mansion.

But perhaps the real secret behind the Daley family success is the fixed but limited ambition of both father and son. Neither Dick nor Rich Daley ever aspired to rise any higher than Mayor of the City of Chicago. Dick Daley, doubtless, enjoyed being a kingmaker and a power in the Democratic Party; this would appear to be less true of Rich Daley, but then the age of king-making Democratic Party bosses seems to be over. A homeboy, the current mayor does not wish to become governor or a U.S. senator, or--here's a thought to pass on to the search committee in Cambridge--the next president of Harvard. That goes a good way to explaining why he is so good at his job and why he is likely to be able to keep it for as long as he likes.

He may not have the theory down, but Mayor daley is the last Third Way politician in the Democratic Party and offers thereby the only viable alternative to compassionate conservatism. It speaks volumes of the plight of the Democrats that the mildly innovative Rudy Guiliani is a front-runner for the GOP's presidential nomination but the truly innovative Mayor Daley doesn't get a mention for theirs.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 24, 2005 4:48 PM