On rare occasions somebody will ask me if I’ve
ever given any thought to moving up to the “bigtime” political
scene in Washington, DC.
I have a standard reply.
Never.
Here are my top 10 reasons…
10) Partisanship can be intense in Illinois, but
rarely will you see political followers swoon over gigantic flip-flops from
their party leaders here like they have nationally with Barack Obama and
John McCain.
Obama says change comes to Washington, not from
Washington, but picks a running mate who has been in the U.S. Senate since
Richard Nixon was president, and the Democrats cheer wildly. McCain spends
months ridiculing Obama’s lack of experience on the national stage,
then chooses a veep who was chairing the Wasilla, Alaska, PTA six years
ago, and the Republicans go gaga. What a pathetic scene.
9) Our last two governors have been even more
unpopular than our current president, but at least they haven’t
started any wars. At least, not yet. Perhaps I shouldn’t be giving
Rod Blagojevich any ideas. I shudder to think what might happen to Indiana
or Wisconsin.
8) Arrogance abounds in Illinois politics. But
everybody in D.C. from the president all the way down to the janitors on K
Street believe they reside at the center of the universe. It’s a
terminal illness, and nobody out there is immune. Barack Obama was
immediately dismissed by the Beltway crowd because nobody knew who he was.
Oops. The same goes for Gov. Sarah Palin, who has been subjected to some of
the harshest press coverage anyone has seen in years. If you don’t
regularly attend cocktail parties with the D.C. elite, you are nobody and
therefore are not to be respected.
Unlike Washington, D.C., we here in Illinois give
people a chance. Rod Blagojevich, an unknown, backbench congressman vaulted
to our state’s highest office without anyone really claiming that he
didn’t have the “right” sort of experience.
OK, maybe we made a mistake with that one.
7) A national columnist referred to Bill Clinton as
the “first black president,” and was taken seriously. Rod
Blagojevich called himself Illinois’ first black governor, and was
widely ridiculed. We just have more perspective on things.
6) U.S. House: 435 members. U.S. Senate: 100 members.
Illinois House and Senate: Only one member who matters in each, the House
Speaker and the Senate President. As a reporter, the Statehouse is just
much easier to cover than the U.S. Capitol.
5) For security reasons, the American president is
practically condemned to living most of his term in the White House. Our
governor can live wherever he wants, which, come to think of it, is mostly
in a bunker far away from reporters who want to ask him about his various
scandals. So, maybe that’s not a great big difference.
4) Illinoisans are far superior to those D.C. folks
because we long ago figured out Obama’s eery supernatural powers.
Obama managed to kick an incumbent off the ballot the
first time he ran for state Senate, which is about as rare in Chicago as a
pro-gun politician. Then, billionaire Blair Hull self-destructed in the
2004 Democratic U.S. Senate primary after allegations surfaced of spousal
abuse. Then, Obama’s Republican U.S. Senate opponent, Jack Ryan, was
forced off the ticket after a sex scandal involving the candidate and his
own wife. Then, the state Republicans convinced Maryland resident Alan
Keyes to run against Obama, only to discover soon afterwards that
Keyes’ daughter was an anarchist lesbian. Hull, Ryan and Keyes can
now barely show their faces in Illinois.
I’m not sure I’d want to be John McCain
or Sarah Palin.
3) Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White is a
74-year-old man who can do a standing backflip. No kidding. Eat your heart
out, Condoleeza Rice!
2) Unlike Vice President Dick Cheney, Lt. Governor Pat
Quinn has never shot anyone in
the face.
And the Number One reason I prefer covering Illinois
to Washington, DC: I couldn’t bear to leave my readers at Illinois Times!!!
Rich Miller also
publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and
thecapitolfaxblog.com.
This article appears in Sep 11-17, 2008.
