Hill,

Brooks was a reporter for the City News Service in Chicago during Chicago's Council Wars. And it was apparent when he was juxtaposing Fast Eddie Obama with the lake front liberal, which is a reference to affluent, liberal Chicagoans, and to whom Fast Eddie was part of an "evil cabal", as Mayor Jane Byrne once called him.

And, of course, Obama cut his teeth in Chicago politics.

The problem is that you have to be from Chicago to get these references. Politics in Chicago is theater, and great comedy theater at that. Chicago politicians are corrupt, but they are funny. Shit that pisses me off in LA makes me laugh when I visit Chicago.

Posted at June 20, 2008 8:23 PM in response to David Brooks And The Race Card

Billy,

The "Fast Eddie" David Brooks is referring to is not Fast Eddie Felson but "Fast Eddie" Vrdolyak, the 10th Ward Chicago Alderman and leader of The 29, the 29 white alderman who aggressively opposed Chicago's first (and only) black mayor, Harold Washington. Fast Eddie, as coined by columnist Mike Royko, was perhaps the last of a breed of Machine fixer-pols, a political who could make a problem disappear with a phone call or create headaches into perpetuity with a simple visit to an administrative office. He made much of his money by representing victims of an "El" train collision and derailment that happened right outside his offices, legend has it that he walked among the ambulances and paramedic trucks, passing out his business card to the paramedics (whom he knew would give that card to the victim if the victim would asked about lawyers, it's one of the first things a conscious victim will say to an EMT) and pressing his card into the hands of victims laying on gurneys.

Fast Eddie Vrdolyak was also effective. During after a blizzard that show down the City, Fast Eddie made a deal with the local Steel companies and steelworkers union, he conviced them to attach blows to their big trucks and clean the streets of the 10th ward. While the rest of the City choked, traffic in the 10th Ward flowed. He wasn't very principled, but he made sure the garbage was collected and the pot holes were filled and he was for a time, very popular.

He was also very, very corrupt.

Brooks used to work for City News Services in Chicago, so he understands Chicago politics. His juxtaposition of the Chicago Lakefront liberal reform politician vs. the hard-bitten Machine pol is purposeful, but it's not race-baiting. Brooks is saying Obama is the fusion of two specific and contradictory archetypal Chicago politicians, the Northwestern/University of Chicago educated reform candidate who typically lives on Chicago's North and South Side Lakefronts, and the sharp-elbowed opportunist from the working class and middle-class ethnic neighborhoods. He's not saying he's one or the other as much as warning Republicans that if they believe the Clinton campaign rhetoric of Obama as a Stevenson elitist, they are in for a hurtin'. I don't think Clinton campaign believed it, but they understood that that was they best way to run against him. The mistake for the Republicans is to mistake Clinton's strategic positioning of Obama for fact.

Posted at June 20, 2008 4:56 PM in response to David Brooks And The Race Card

Why is everyone so up in arms about this?

There is an very easy way for Obama to respond. He could say something like: "Remember those preliminary discussions we had about my campaign perhaps limiting individual donations, or tempering our huge financial advantage, all in the bipartisan spirit of reform? Well, after today,
NO SOUP FOR YOU!"

Posted at May 16, 2008 12:48 AM in response to McCain Blasts Obama As Unfit To Defend America

Poor Charlie Gibson, he really is empty upstairs, isn't he?

Posted at May 13, 2008 8:01 PM in response to News Orgs Instantly Project Big Win For Hillary In West Virginia

Yup, old, white, uneducated people love Hillary.

Posted at May 13, 2008 7:59 PM in response to News Orgs Instantly Project Big Win For Hillary In West Virginia

Actually, Shuler intended to endorse Obama, but Hillary intercepted it.

Posted at May 7, 2008 2:58 PM in response to Uncommitted Super-Del: How Could I Tell My Black Constituents I'm Backing Hillary?

"This primary election on Tuesday is a game changer. This is going to make a huge difference in what happens going forward. The entire country – probably even a lot of the world is looking to see what North Carolina decides.”

She didn't mean to say North Carolina. She wanted to say Indiana, but she misremembered where she was.

Posted at May 6, 2008 8:21 PM in response to Meanwhile, In Indiana...

Actually, you won't see a penny. The increase in demand ensures that prices will rise throughout the summer.

Posted at May 2, 2008 8:20 PM in response to Obama Goes Up In Indiana With Second Ad Responding To Hillary's Gas Spot

Nice.

TPM's favorite crazy Canadian cat lady just put on her white pillowcase.

Glad to officially know where you and MJW are coming from. Don't like black people, pure and simple.

Posted at April 30, 2008 5:39 PM in response to Hillary Tells Bill O'Reilly That Wright's Statements Were "Offensive And Outrageous"

The problem, gotalife, is you don't live in the U.S., so it's doubtful that you are even an American citizen. You are just a sad, confused, bitter woman from Vancouver, alone except for her two cats, someone who, understandably, is personally vested in Hillary because you feel that she has "suffered", just like you have.

Posted at April 27, 2008 2:12 AM in response to WSJ: Bill Clinton Urges Hillary's Campaign To Keep Going, Go More Negative