Chicago Daily Observer

Mitt Romney may well be the most perfectly equipped candidate for the presidency that the nation has had since Henry Clay. Note that Henry Clay was not elected president but his equipment was such that had he been, he would have moved into the presidency with surety and resolve. For his time there was never a man so superbly fitted than Clay. He had excellent legislative and administrative experience, was a native genius but was defeated repeatedly and often times closely, for president. The fact that Abraham Lincoln worked for him, cheered him and adored him as a candidate tells you much about Clay.

It is the country’s severe loss that it had not the benefit of Clay. Before we get to the Romney comparison, let us remember that Clay was born in Virginia in 1777, that he received his elementary education from a British pedagogue before going on to ... Read More...

The Locusts are Back
By Charlie Johnston

Dick Durbin will not be our senator after next year. Let me explain why.
Winston Churchill described the decade when Europe could have been preparing for the threat of Hitler but did not as “…the years the locusts ate.” Yet the decade did serve a purpose. It first elevated to prominence and power and then unmasked all those little men who were unworthy of the nation. When the storm broke almost all the little men, having been clearly identified, were sent packing, never to hold power again.
In 2006 Democrats were very careful to hedge about the war, exaggerating every problem and blaming it on George Bush while pledging they would run it smarter. They screamed foul every time a Republican accurately described their program as one of defeat and retreat.
Now they have been in charge of ... Read More...

Governor Blagojevich’s Rope-A-Dope

As children prepare to return to school, the Chicago Bears prepare for another run at the Super Bowl and the long hot days of summer fade into fall, Illinois 2007 SPRING legislative session appears to finally be reaching its conclusion.

Last Friday, both the House and Senate passed a compromise budget plan that increased funding for schools and maintained spending at the rate of inflation for most other state responsibilities. However, after almost a half a year of bluster and bullying, the Governor’s prized universal health care plan was left in the legislative scrap heap in what appeared to be the clearest sign yet of his failed leadership and his administration’s tin ear when it comes to listening to the Legislature as a co-equal branch of government.

Since Blagojevich’s reelection last November and Senate President Emil Jones’ landslide victory creating a Democratic super-majority in the Senate, ... Read More...