Obama getsa little bossy?

FOR someone who has waxed poetically about ending "broken politics," President Barack Obama sounded like just another ham-fisted boss in pushing his candidate for mayor of Chicago, who appears to be Rahm Emanuel, White House chief of staff and fundraiser for departing Mayor Richard Daley.

"I think he would be an excellent mayor," Obama told ABC News. "I think right now, as long as he is in the White House, he's critically focused on making sure that we're creating jobs for families around the country and rebuilding our economy. But, I think he would be a terrific mayor."

The media played along with the fiction that he wasn't endorsing Emanuel. But anyone who thinks it wasn't an "endorsement" must have smoked three bowls of primo Hopium.

Excellent and terrific aren't exactly nuanced terms. What words would he have chosen if he were "officially" endorsing Emanuel? Da bomb?

So, the president becomes grand marshal of the post-Daley Chicago Way parade. All he needed to complete the picture was a shillelagh, a green sash, some bagpipes and the plumbers union marching at his elbow.

The timing of Daley's long-planned abdication was no accident. By waiting until after Labor Day, Daley set up a political sprint. That favors candidates with name recognition, the ability to raise cash quickly and political organizations.

Couple Obama's glowing commentary with similar gooey rapture from Obama aide David Axelrod, a former Daley mouthpiece, and a reasonable man gets the picture, a picture of Obama winking and nodding at Emanuel.

Meanwhile, other potential candidates were trying to put coalitions together.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart was inching closer to an announcement, which will come only if he gets the expected blessing of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. Alderman Edward Burke, chairman of the City Council's Finance Committee and perhaps the most experienced of the potential candidates, is considering a run. Latinos such as City Clerk Miguel del Valle were pushing forward.

Obama's comments may have the most effect on blacks. One of the most prominent potential black mayoral candidates is state Sen. James T. Meeks, pastor of the giant Salem Baptist Church on the city's South Side, a congregation of 20,000 members. Theoretically, Meeks could have all his candidacy petitions signed in one Sunday. This makes him one of the most influential potential candidates. You can't have a serious discussion about the Chicago mayoral campaign without mention of Meeks.

In speaking with him, I got the distinct impression he was none too pleased with Obama's remarks about Emanuel. Meeks told me he was puzzled.

"On one hand, you'd think, 'That's what he's supposed to say,'" Meeks said. "He can't say his guy is a terrible chief of staff, or that he'd be a terrible mayor. He can't say that. But there is a danger for the president to stake out a position on Chicago politics when he doesn't yet know all the details. ... Staking out a hard position so early on might be problematic."


"Let's say Rahm Emanuel becomes the president's candidate and gets into a mayoral runoff with a high-profile African-American candidate," said Meeks. "That wouldn't be a good position for the president. It would be a difficult proposition, especially if the president were thinking about asking African-Americans for votes in 2012. It would just complicate things."

If Obama believed his campaign rhetoric, all that jazz about transcending the old politics, he wouldn't have been so strong for Emanuel. Obama could have taken a page from Daley, who said that he wouldn't be playing kingmaker. "This office doesn't belong to me, this office belongs to the people of our city," Daley said.

The president could have played that tune with great subtlety and grace. He could have said that Emanuel was a good chief of staff, but that the choice of a mayor should be left up to the taxpayers of Chicago.

When it comes to choosing words carefully, leaving himself wiggle room, Obama is a master. But this time, he decided to crack his knuckles for Emanuel.

John Kass is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill., 60611. E-mail: jskass@tribune.com.