For all his promise, Barack Obama was a man of few accomplishments before being elected to the highest office in America. But he actually did achieve something when it came to national politics. He brought the Chicago Democratic Machine model into the national arena.
I grew up just north of Cook County, Illinois, in which Chicago is located. For 21 years, from 1955 to 1976, Mayor Richard J. Daley ran his town as a true big city party machine Democrat, complete with patronage and all the other creepy-crawly intrigues to be found when turning over the rocks of municipal politics.
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