Chicago Homicides, ChicagObama

UPDATE: Yes, Barack has a rival for stardom. Jack Higgins cartoon, Sun Times. Carol Marin: "Obama, Blago flip sides of Bizarro plotline: " Barack Obama jogged only slightly ahead of Rod Blagojevich across the news landscape of the past month, the glistening horizon of a new Camelot ahead, perhaps, but the jagged outline of the clouted city not far behind."***

In the sheer exhilaration of the impending Age of Obama, it's understandable that some stories are overlooked. One that might not be considered newsworthy is the fact that last year homicides in Barack Obama's hometown of Chicago substantially exceeded the number of deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. As the AP itself reported:

According to a tally by The Associated Press, at least 314 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq in 2008, down from 904 in the previous year.

And the Chicago Tribune reported today:

Chicago closed out the year with 509 homicides, an increase of about 15 percent over 2007. . .

Newsbusters.

P.S. Today's Tribune is practically all Obama all the time. Oh, excuse me, there is a front page story on state government grinding to a halt. Goodbye Southside, Hello Washington. Chicagoland--Obama's former church "Trinity's life renewed". Parade--the Secret Service, dedicated to the President. The Arts--"Mr. Obama Goes to Hollywood". Plus a piece on the success of Shepard Fairey's (Stalinist) Obama posters. Travel--D.C. Bound, or stay in Chicago and visit Obama sites. John Kass with a reality check, "A show that Springer couldn't even conceive". Trouble in Obamaparadise? Pro-Hamas demonstrators try to get close to his Hyde Park manse. The Tribune editorializes on the Blago 26 enablers, gives The One a pass. From my previous post:

“Anybody who understood this case wouldn’t have voted for Burris,” Rob Warden, executive director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions, said.

Some in Illinois didn't vote for him. Burris lost the Dem primary that year but ran again four years later, losing again:

In 1998 and 2002, he again unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party nomination for Governor of Illinois, running in 2002 against, among others, Rod Blagojevich. During his 2002 run for governor he was supported by, among others, current President-elect Barack Obama.^[7] In 1998, Burris caused a controversy by referring to his Democratic primary opponents — Jim Burns, Glenn Poshard (who eventually won the nomination) and John Schmidt — as "nonqualified white boys."^[8].

(This from someone whose major accomplishment as an Illinois pol is that he hasn't been indicted.) Yes, he lost to Illinois current disgraced Governor Rod Blagojevich. But one prominent Democrat who supported Roland Burris at the time?...Barack Obama. And they both supported Blagojevich's reelection as Governor in 2006, at a time when he was under at least nine federal corruption investigations. Political Punch:

In an interview with the Chicago Daily Herald in July 2006, then-Sen. Obama said, "I have not followed closely enough what's been taking place in these investigations to comment on them. Obviously I'm concerned about reports that hiring practices at the state weren't, at times, following appropriate procedures. How high up that went, the degree at which the governor was involved, is not something I'm going to speculate on.

"If I received information that made me believe that any Democrat had not been acting in the public interest, I'd be concerned," Obama said.

That said, Mr. Obama said, "If the governor asks me to work on his behalf, I'll be happy to do it."

Apparently the governor did.

Barack Obama, Democrat machine happy camper.