Welcome to the Chicago Machine

I touched on the issue of the necessity of the mainstream media to grow a spine and do its job in regard to the Obama administration in a post last week, for the sake of their own survival as functioning organizations of journalism.

Probably semi-lost in the shuffle was my claim that Obama would be bringing the Mayor Daley approach to the media to the national stage. Basically, the mayor's approach, as I stated then, is simple:

"...whenever Richard Daley decides he doesn't like a certain line of questioning, he either berates the press for being so stupid as to ask it, or he decides to move on to the next line of more convenient questioning."

I had a general feeling that this would be the case throughout the election. It was made even more apparent at the press conference where Obama told a reporter not to waste his question by asking about Blagojevich.

Now we're seeing it on the big stage, as Obama last night threw a stiff backhand in the direction of Politico.

As a Chicagoan I typically find the mayor's berating of the press fairly amusing. He's kind of got his own little dictatorship going here, and everyone knows it. He does whatever he wants and still gets reelected in landslides every term, so he continues to treat the press like a gathering of ginger step-children.

I must admit, I admire Obama's cojones for attempting to take this strategy to the national stage.

The real question is, how long will people whose egos and pride and determination drove them to the opportunity to cover the highest office in the world continue to allow their egos and pride to be beaten and bruised?