\What's worth noting here is that Healey never rose above the two major Cabinet posts that he held (Chancellor of the Exchequer, Secretary of Defense); this, despite widely held views of him as the logical successor to James Callaghan, whom Thatcher had beaten to become Prime Minister in 1979. The Labour Party itself would remain locked out of power until 1997, when Tony Blair finally broke the drought.
So what stopped Healey from becoming Prime Minister, or at least, Labour's next opposition leader? Most historians cite his apparent inability or unwillingness to tone down his combative speaking style, and reach out beyond those already agreed with it, as the decisive factors.
A man who zigzags between vowing to "squeeze property speculators until the pips squeak" -- as he did, in 1974, in pressing for a wealth tax -- to negotiating a bailout from the International Monetary Fund that triggered deep, divisive budget cuts, as they did in 1976, is unlikely to inspire great public confidence.
It's not hard to imagine Healey's critics shuddering whenever he put himself forward for the big jobs; to paraphrase Elvis Costello, they had seen the movie, and it did not move them. Yet Healey's essential advice ("stop digging") still stands, even if he didn't follow it himself, and Lightfoot would do well study it, even though she doesn't seem capable of major introspection, as we'll see.
Denis Healey stares down
his political future with a smile: April 1974>
<Rob Mieremet, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons>
As WLS notes, two other figures carry greater concerns for the mayor's second term prospects. One has Vallas crushing Lightfoot in a runoff by 19 points (49.3-30.1%). The other are the 54% of those who responded claim they won't vote for her, no matter what. It's a remarkable reversal of fortune for someone who surfed a tidal wave of goodwill to become the Windy City's first openly gay, second female, and third African-American mayor in 2019.
Lightfoot's victory teased the promise of a major break from the top-down, foul-mouthed leadership of her predecessor, Rahm Emanuel -- who'd abandoned plans to seek a third term, rather than risk a humiliating defeat from the voters he'd spent eight years antagonizing. But that's exactly not how things have worked out.
Her bleep-bleeped belittlements range from succinct blasts ("You're 100% full of shit"), to unhinged serial rants ("My dick is bigger than yours and the Italians, I have the biggest dick in Chicago"). At best, they sound like the outbursts of a former federal prosecutor who was never ready for prime time; at worst, they suggest someone who seems a few sandwiches shy of a picnic, as Healey might say, perhaps.
In These Times (see link below) paints a compelling portrait of an insecure, domineering authoritarian who brooks no dissent, and never hesitates to hurl the considerable weight of her office against all who question her. As someone who's often experienced these tactics myself, this former supporter's quote speaks volumes:
“I thought she’d govern like she campaigned, and we didn’t get that. We got a very dictatorial style of governing, just like we did with Rahm, and it’s disappointing."
Take II/The Reckoner>
As proof, look no further than the $6 billion Lincoln Yards project, an initiative that Lightfoot once blasted Emanuel for wanting to fast-track. Now, of course, she's all for it. It's the kind of U-turn that prompts those who didn't trust her in 2019 to remind voters why all over again, as Saqib Bhatti, co-executive director at the Action Center on Race & the Economy, tells In These Times:
“Lightfoot’s been an unmitigated disaster — I think under her we’ve seen a continuation of the failed policies of Emanuel and [former Mayor Richard M.] Daley, but with even less charm somehow. She’s continued putting major corporations and the wealthy above the needs of poor Black and brown folks in Chicago.”
None of those developments should surprise anybody. I saw the chickens roosting during my brief tenure in the late 1990s, when the abuses of TIF funds were just beginning to gather steam under Mayor Daley.
Entire neighborhoods were left to rot, because they were filled with average (read: mostly minority) people who didn't have "the juice" to squeeze City Hall for their fair share of its spoils. No one was in their corner, so that was that.
The social inequities that seemed like a mere gap when I arrived, then began to yawning into a chasm. The Ed Burkes and Vrdolyaks kept making out, like the bandits they always were, as they remained the sun around which the city's clannish political culture orbited. They paid less of their "fair share" than ever, while the rest of us paid more and more, and more and more -- fees, penalties, permits, and so on. You name it, they raked it in.
Hence, that's why I'm saying little, for now, about the other major issue in the race, which has done so much to sour Chicagoans on Lightfoot: crime, and what to do about it. It's an issue that's ripe for demagoguery, and this race is no exception. But based on what I saw, putting the proverbial cop on every corner won't ever be enough, which is the major theme of Vallas's campaign.
However, as Johnson has repeatedly pointed out, the criminal justice system keeps on growing by leaps and bounds -- in terms of its budget, and payroll -- not to mention how many unfortunates wind up shuffled off to new residencies at the nearest gray bar hotel. Yet, if the polls tell us anything, Chicagoans have never felt less positive about their city, and its future.
Admittedly, Lightfoot has faced major hurdles, ranging from financial, to the fallout of COVID-19, homelesness, and fierce anti-cop apathy, fueled by incidents like George Floyd's murder...to name a few. Yet, like her unfortunate '70s counterpart, Lightfoot has responded by simply doubling down, staring straight ahead, and continuing to dig.
Chicagoans may well decide that this type of behavior is reason enough to send Lightfoot off to Chicago's One-Term Hall of Fame (Michael Bilandic, 1979; Jane Byrne, 1983; Eugene Sawyer, 1989), because they see her as the kind of leader that they don't want.
Whether they get the kind of leadership they so desperately need, however, remains very much an open question, with no easy answer in sight. Whoever wins the job would do well to heed a saying attributed to another cast-off British Prime Minister, Edward Heath: "A week is a long time in politics." --The Reckoner
"Or they always looked to the national establishment, like Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama’s former chief of staff. Maybe they were combative loners like Lightfoot, finding few friends on either right or left.
Unlike his predecessor, Johnson will enter City Hall with a strong knowledge of where the bodies are buried, so to speak, which determines how things get done. Whether he can raise enough money for his agenda through six new taxes, as he proposes, remains to be seen.
LInks To Go (Hurry, Hurry, Before
They Price You Out Of Paradise):
Chicago Sun-Times:
After Tight Race For Mayor,
Black Political Establishment May Face A Reckoning:
https://chicago.suntimes.com/elections/2023/4/4/23670457/mayoral-race-brandon-johnson-black-political-leaders-city-council-politics-natalie-moore-column
Governing.com
Lori Lightfoot Looks
Like A One-Term Mayor:
https://www.governing.com/now/chicagos-lori-lightfoot-looks-like-a-one-term-mayor
In These Times
Why Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot
Is Facing An Uphill Battle For Re-Election:
https://inthesetimes.com/article/chicago-mayor-lori-lightfoot-chuy-garcia-brandon-johnson-paul-vallas-election
WBEZ
Chicago Voters Feel Unsafe,
Unhappy With Police Relations:
https://www.wbez.org/stories/poll-crime-tops-chicago-voters-issues-this-mayoral-election/d883f428-d268-4c39-9a9d-6aa13566c447
Yahoo News: Brandon Johnson
Could Be A National Progressive Star:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/brandon-johnson-chicago-mayor-paul-vallas-213142198.html
