By Joe Kaiser -
Rahm Emanuel has not been shy of national attention in his still relatively short time in office. When he first declared his candidacy for mayor, his residency was called into question. When (and currently) shootings ran rampant across the city, safety and gun control was called into question and Chicago began to gain an unwanted reputation throughout the country.
And now, of course, Emanuel is receiving a lot of attention for his Chick-fil-a comments and defense of the undefined phrase “Chicago values.” While free speech advocates want to kick the first term mayor in the rear, especially after he doubled down on having Chik-fil-a stay out of the windy city, another point of debate is to ask the question ‘what on earth are Chicago values?’
Are ‘Chicago values’ the reputation for murder the city has garnered in the past year or so? We know these values are not in line with ‘Chick-fil-a appreciation day,’ so are they the four shootings that took place in Chicago on said day?
Are ‘Chicago values’ keeping handguns out of the hands of law-aibing citizens, while ignoring the widespread use by those who want to do harm? Maybe Rahm’s meaning of ‘values’ is the 90 percent homicide increase in Chicago’s third district alone?
Greg Gutfeld on “The Five” on FOXNews summed up the ridiculousness of the mayor’s comment pretty well:
“So lately, we have been playing a game called chase the chicken,” Gutfeld said. “While bad things are happening, we’re obsessing over a fast food joint that serves bird. Why? Well, it sure beats scary stuff like the economy, war and well, murder. Witness Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who bravely said Chick-fil-A didn’t represent Chicago values. What a relief — for the chain, that is, given what those values are. According to NBC Chicago, Chi-town is pretty unbeatable when it comes to violence. Based on a projected murder total of 505 for this year, Chicago has roughly 20 murders per 100,000 people. That’s double Moscow, three times New York City and twice Mexico City. When you gotta go to Mexico to get away from the crime, you’ve got problems.”
The fact is ‘Chicago values’ is a major gaffe. Not just because of the murder (though that is the largest issue) but also because it shows how misplaced Emanuel’s priorities are. As citizens are getting killed, Chicago also still has the third highest unemployment rate among large cities. Emanuel obviously wants to keep the southern fast food chain out of the city because he is putting ideology first, but if that took a backseat to common sense he would realize that brining another business to Chi-town means jobs.
Rahmbo should be advised to stop doubling down on his commetns and rethink his priorities. His to do list should likely read the following:
1.) Stop murders
2.) Create jobs
3.) Everything else
4.) Worry about chicken sandwiches
But a culture of backwards policies and corruption that has bread such wonderful humanitarians as Rod Blagojevich and Tony Rezko is probably not going to let him do that. Misplaced priorities that make way from murder, job loss and politicans without a moral compass won’t let him do that. In other words, ‘Chicago values’ won’t let him do that.
If Emanuel wants to change the culture, he should now backtrack, realize some sad realities in his city, shut up and maybe just for the hell of it eat some chicken.
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Joe Kaiser is interning with Illinois Review for the summer -
