For most of the world, the calendar starts in January. But in Chicago, the New Year apparently began on November 24, when Mayor Emanuel finally released the video showing police officer Jason Van Dyke gunning down Laquan McDonald.
That’s because Cook County Board president Toni Preckwinkle—who had been crushing Mayor Rahm in the polls—chickened out and didn’t run. Not knowing what else to do, many Chicagoans went back to sleep.
One commercial shows him in a sweater, apologizing, without actually saying what it is that he’s done wrong. Another commercial pummels Garcia for not having a plan to deal with the city’s fiscal nightmare, even though the mayor has no plan either.
June: Having campaigned on a promise to make the hard choices to save the city from its mounting financial obligations, Mayor Emanuel takes the easy way out by borrowing another $1 billion or so to pay off the city’s debt. That means he’s borrowing money to pay back the money he already owes. Voters are outraged, saying if we’d only known Rahm had no fiscal plan . . .
November: Under orders from Cook County judge Franklin Valderrama, Mayor Emanuel grudgingly releases the McDonald tape. Protesters take to the streets demanding that the mayor be recalled, momentarily forgetting that we blew our chance to recall him back in April.
