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We had a nice spit take while drinking our morning coffee and reading the front-page headline of the Sun-Times. The headline accompanying Fran Spielman's story about His Elective Majesty's advice to Senator Barack Obama in the wake of his win in the Iowa Caucuses was to "always be the underdog."
"He's the underdog. He has to be always the underdog. ... Even though he won this, he still is the underdog. That's a great position to be in. ... In your own eyes, you have to feel like you're always the underdog," Daley said.
That's right, readers. The onetime scion and current undisputed leader of a long-time local political dynasty told Obama (whose chief campaign strategist, David Axelrod, also helped elect Daley) that he should campaign as though he still views himself as an underdog. It looks like today's term of the day at Chicagoist is shaping up to be "brazen chutzpah."
It's moments like this where we feel blessed to live in a city where our elected leaders have no internal editing between the sentences formed in their minds and what comes out of their mouths.
Image credit: Charles Rex Arbogast/AP.
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I fail to see how this is bad advice. When you're the underdog, you work harder because you think people don't respect you. I know you can't compare sports to politics, but look at the Bears. In 2005 and 2006 they were underdogs, no one believed in them, etc...they make one Super Bowl and play like crap and suddenly they're not the underdog and they take the field in 2007 thinking the Lombardi trophy is as good as theirs so they don't have to play hard.
I don't think Chuck was suggesting it's bad advice. I think he was more suggesting the King Daley has never once viewed himself as the underdog. More to Daley's views - he sees himself as the Anointed One and anyone who dares challenge his authority (and Divine Right to it) is nothing more than a bug to be squashed. And that's why it's ironic for Daley to be giving anyone advice to think of themself as an underdog.
Another way of looking at it is that the Mayor fights hard for what he wants, whether during an election or trying to press through an idea he's endorsing... which is consistent with his comment on trying to maintain an underdog mentality.
I heard this quote on the radio too. I was just confused.....like he was speaking another language.
I think the motivation here is just the usual Chicagoist knee jerk Daley bashing. For people who hate him, the editors sure think about him a lot.
"Another way of looking at it is that the Mayor fights hard for what he wants, whether during an election or trying to press through an idea he's endorsing... which is consistent with his comment on trying to maintain an underdog mentality."
maybe he could fight hard to fix the cta, purge corruption and fix the scandal plagued police force.
Didn't he bring in a new police chief, the best outsider he could find? That sounds like a start.
Didn't he bring in a new police chief, the best outsider he could find? That sounds like a start.
Only after we became a worldwide embarrassment with all the recent video, U.N. condemnation etc. I'm sure his pet 2016 project had nothing to do with it either.
At least corrupt politicians have a friend in 'whymustiregister'.
And 70% of the voters in this city.
Navin,
...whatever [you dumb piece of crap.]
That's right, I love corruption because I think the constant, drumbeat of Daley bashing is tired and lame.
He opens his mouth and some gives good political advice so it is time to whine about him being a powerful [and enormously effective] politician? It might be a slow news day, but what is the point of a post like this?
Ooh! An opportunity to prove my cred by making a statement 90% of my friends agree with! Aren't I brave to have opinions identical to my entire peer group?
Yep 'whymustiregister' nothing speaks credibility like an ad hominem attack on an entertainment blog, major kudos to you for keeping us all in check and you know exploding our group-think and all that..........
What do you mean Daley's not and has never been an underdog? Don't you see the way that the media treats him?
I agree with Chuck. It is just plain goofy to have the anointed heir of a political dynasty tell someone to "..always be the underdog."
It is even goofier to hear Mayor Underdog making his point by using a bunch of peculiar phrases. Note that I did not say "sentences" because Mumbles seems incapable of speaking in complete sentences. He should be arrested for butchering the English language. Call 911!
He gets 70% of the vote! How can you pretend he's some Prince with a birthright? Anyone is free to run against him. The people have spoken.
Whatever you're smoking, A2, I want some!
Funny, but I'm right, aren't I? 70 percent.
Yes, anyone can run against him. But they are also running against the entire machine that exists in the city as well and that is a lot for anyone to overcome.
I think my all time favorite moment in any mayoral campaign happened a few years ago. It was a few days after the city was blanketed with 2 feet of snow on New Year's day and Bobby Rush was running against the mayor. The criticism had been that the mayor was slow to deploy the snowplows in the poorer neighborhoods of the south side while areas like the loop and Lincoln Park had been clear priorities. So Rush throws a news conference to bash Daley. He find a spot on the south side that had not been cleared in 3 days and started talking. Literally within the first minute of the press conference here come a fleet of snow plows clearing every last snowflake from that street. I recall Mike Flannery from WBBM commenting and laughing about it saying that you couldn't actually take video of Rush without having a snow plow right behind him for the entire duration of the news conference. The point of this is that Daley commands an entire city and if you run against him he can make your campaign and life difficult if he really needs to. Hell, he doesn't even have to break the law to do it. That street needed to be plowed at some point.
70 percent of a 20 percent turnout of eligible voters. Doesn't look so good when you see what the numbers really are, does it?
So the Mayor isn't popular with the 80 percent of people who are too lazy to even vote? Who cares?
Not too lazy--too disenchanted. I work with a lot of African Americans. To a person, they said they didn't like ANYONE for mayor. So, basically, the only people who will vote for Daley are the people on his payroll in one way or another.
Ferdy is always good for a solid bring down.
Well, I am originally from a metropolitan area that always has two black men running for Mayor. Should I not vote for one of them because I'm white? That sounds like a big ol' heap of stupid! I didn't live in the city limits but if I had I certainly know which person I would have voted for...even though he was black...crazy, I know, but true.
Oh, forget it. If you think elections in Chicago are wide open, that people in the city who don't go along with the Irish mafia's version of good government, then you need a new set of glasses or something, I don't know what.
Personally, I think the article Chicagoist posted was a cheap and unnecessary shot, but your defense is just pigheadedly blind.
All we will say is that this is silly Charles. It's good advice, it's a good strategy, as an "underdog" people root for you. Juggernauts constantly get snipped no matter what they say, case in point.
Happy New Year
All the best
AJ is right!
Any one can run against Daley, he had actually made it easier by changing the signiture requirement to get on the ballot for mayor, from 25,000 to 2,261.
Ooopppppps, my bad!
I had that in reverse!