Lightfoot, Pritzker and holier-than-thou political hypocrites
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker are using the coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic as a political weapon to advance their partisan political agendas. Instead of working with President Donald Trump, whom they loath, Lightfoot and Pritzker are blaming their own shortcomings on the President, to help cover up their own failings as leaders. Businesses are producing face-masks at maximum capacity, but Lightfoot and Pritzker ridiculously claim the shortage is due to Trump. Southwest News Newspaper Group March 24, 2020.
By Ray Hanania
Lori Lightfoot wasn’t my first choice for Chicago Mayor — neither was J.B. Pritzker for governor. But when she (and he) won the election I cheered with everyone else. Politics should be competitive but not personal and when elections are over, everyone should come together and SERVE THE PUBLIC interests not their own.
I didn’t care that Lightfoot is Gay, African American or a woman. Those are irrelevant. Lightfoot presented herself as compassionate.
Lightfoot probably won not because she had detailed solutions to Chicago’s problems, which are also the problems of every community in Cook County – what happens in Chicago happens in the suburbs and when Chicago needs money, it’s usually taken from the back pockets of Suburban taxpayers. She won because her daughter did a very cute dance during one of her commercials.
I thought, brilliant.
That’s what I get when I let my guard down believing people genuinely care about society’s needs over themselves.
Right away, Lightfoot began a political campaign attacking President Trump. Usually, politicians embrace “attack strategies” because they want to distract their constituents away from their own failings, and Lightfoot has a lot.
Chicago has failed to address the Coronavirus effectively. The majority of coronavirus cases, 73 percent, are coming from Cook County, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. So maybe Lightfoot didn’t act fast enough? No one separates Chicago from the suburbs, but I’ll bet most cases are in Chicago –if it doesn’t matter, why release the data?
I have watched press conferences Lightfoot has had with Governor J.B. Pritzker, a guy who is so wealthy the pain of everyday life escapes him – which is why he didn’t flinch when he dramatically raised taxes on services across the board. They have both begun each press briefing by attacking and blaming President Trump — for everything!
That’s the problem with “ideologues” and extreme “Liberals.” They can’t focus on real need and must take pot shots against their rivals for the specific purpose of hurting their rivals and, more importantly, to cover up their own failings as leaders by trying to focus the public on their rivals by using blame and extreme rhetoric.
This week, Lightfoot Tweeted this in response to President Trump — No one calls her the “Twitter-in-Chief” like they do Trump, but they should:
“COVID-19 is not the “Chinese virus.” It is a worldwide pandemic. My administration stands with the Asian community in rejecting these falsehoods and racism. Chicago’s response to this pandemic will be determined by science and compassion, not fear and bigotry.”
The fact is it is wrong to call it the “Chinese Disease.” But who began calling it the “Chinese disease?” Trump? No. It was CNN, MSNBC and the mainstream news media.
The disease began in Wuhan where Chinese officials tried to hide its discovery. In fact, the first cases of Coronavirus COVIC-19 was identified in two Americans who entered Washington State after visiting Wuhan. One of them, a 50-year-old man, was the first to die in America on Feb. 29.
The Coronavirus was first discovered on Dec. 9, 2019, nearly three months before, where it was kept a secret until China was forced to notify the world.
Why don’t we call COVID-19 the “Chinese Government Disease?” The Chinese deserve the jacket.
Lightfoot won’t talk about that because criticizing China doesn’t score political points the way bashing Trump does. Honesty, like admitting you are helpless to do anything to stop the virus, certainly won’t distract Chicago’s residents from your own failings.
What has Lightfoot done as Mayor? She doesn’t want to talk about that and has denied repeated requests for interviews – that’s liberals for you, always demanding freedom of information, except when they are in control. Who cares, when you can hide behind the Coronavirus, a great cover for their failings?
Lightfoot is no different than most Chicago Machine mayors. Their interests come first. Yours get buried in hot button phrases like: LGBTQ; Immigration – an unresolved problem for more than 25 years including under Saint Obama; or, racism and gender bias.
Hey Mayor, your red light cameras suck. Chicago cut the Amber light from 3 to 2 seconds intentionally to nail motorists with outrageous fines. Ironically, it was Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza who took decisive action in January refusing to collect money on behalf of municipalities that have the cameras. Maybe Mendoza should have been mayor, after all?
Stop the politics mayor and start being a leader. Your petty attacks make you look terrible, though I know it is difficult to do all the things you promised and probably can’t.
We need leaders who come together for OUR INTERESTS, not those who use tragedy as a soap box to disguise their own failed politics by bashing their political rivals!
(Ray Hanania writes a syndicated column each week published in the Southwest News Newspaper Group which includes the Des Plaines Valley News, the Southwest News-Herald, the Regional Newspaper and the Reporter Newspaper, plus an additional four community newspapers. His website hub is www.Hanania.com.)
Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
Email Ray Hanania at rghanania@gmail.com.
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