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home > by publication type > op-eds > Obama, Clinton Wage the Battle of the Two 'Hoods
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| Author: | Amity Shlaes, Senior Fellow for Economic History |
|---|
April 22, 2008
Bloomberg.com
Pennsylvania happens to be the physical location of the latest contest between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination. But in terms of political culture, their duel is situated in Clinton’s original home and Obama’s current one—Chicago. You can even say the battle is between two neighborhoods on the Windy City’s South Side.
The first of those is Bridgeport, the down-to-earth district from which Richard J. Daley, the father of the current mayor, ruled the city in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Daley was famous for his efficiency—he got the snow plows out in the blizzard of 1967. As mayor, he reigned so successfully that he gave new meaning to the words “boss” and “clout.” At its best, Bridgeport is reliable. At its worst, Bridgeport is numbingly corrupt.
The other neighborhood is Hyde Park, the base for Democratic reformers seeking to supplant the party establishment. I grew up in this college community, and I love it. The discourse there tends to the polysyllabic.
Clinton would be appalled to be paired with “the boss,” Daley. Though she grew up in Park Ridge, her early political life included making the rounds among the South Side Left. That was her Saul Alinsky period, when she worked with Obama-type people who dropped phrases like “the harmony of dissonance.” The Illinois people she and Bill worked with while he was governor hated the “Machine”—Daley’s establishment.
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