Out of touch with Illinois? - Presidential candidate Obama has little to say on local issues

Out of touch with Illinois? - Presidential candidate Obama has little to say on local issues
BY CAROL MARIN
Copyright by The Sun-Times Columnist
June 6, 2007

Is Barack Obama out of the loop when it comes to his home state of Illinois?

That was the question posed Monday by my NBC5 colleague, political reporter Mary Ann Ahern, after trying hard to get the senator's views on a variety of newsy topics in Chicago. Obama, who showed up at Monday's Operation PUSH convention, stopped for a very brief Q-and-A with waiting reporters. Getting Obama to set aside time to talk to the local press back home has been nothing short of a major challenge for many months now.

What about the state budget funding crisis and casinos? asked Ahern.

''I haven't been following the negotiations closely enough to know what's taking place,'' Obama said.

How has his political mentor, Senate President Emil Jones, the recipient of major ComEd campaign cash, handled the utility rate freeze issue?

''I apologize, guys, but I really have not followed closely what's been happening in Springfield, I had a little bit of other stuff to do,'' the senator said with a smile.

As Obama walked away, reporters called out questions about his now-indicted friend and fund-raiser, Antoin ''Tony'' Rezko. And about Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, someone Obama endorsed, who is currently up to his eyeballs in problems. Obama, still moving, either didn't hear or chose not to answer.

But Ahern persevered, piping up one more time to ask about Stroger and the property tax he promised not to increase but now wants to.

''You know, I, I apologize,'' Obama said. ''I just haven't been following these local stories closely enough to give an informative opinion. Otherwise, I would. I'm not dodging it, I just haven't been reading the stories, so I don't want to misstate something that I don't know about. Is that fair guys? Bye.''

Give Obama points for honesty. He didn't know there is a meltdown of epic proportions under way in Springfield, where he served as a state senator for eight years. And he wasn't tuned up, he said, on the mess that Todd Stroger has yet to address in county government, where there is a downward spiral at Stroger Hospital and the Juvenile Detention Center, just to name two continuing crises that directly affect the poor.

Unlike the junior senator from Illinois, the senior senator, Dick Durbin, was entirely up to speed when questioned on Sunday's NBC5 "City Desk" program, able to comment on the sorry state of this state's warring Democratic leadership, the problems of the county president and the need to do something fast for Illinois consumers hit with staggeringly high gas and electric bills.

But, you might argue, Durbin isn't running for president. And Obama is.

Right.

Then again, Durbin is the majority whip, the second most powerful Democrat in the U.S. Senate, and a pretty busy guy on national and international fronts. But first and foremost, he's elected by us in Illinois to pay attention to us in Illinois.

That applies to Obama, too.

Then again, if Obama had been aware of the mess that is going on in Springfield and the calamity that continues to dog Cook County, he might not be eager to talk about it anyway. It would only anger the political people who have given him their full support, not to mention fund-raising efforts in his bid for the White House.

And Obama has already made it clear that when it comes to uncomfortable questions, he's careful whom he's willing to be interviewed by. When Sun-Times' award-winning reporter Tim Novak comprehensively dissected the complicated financial world of Tony Rezko, including Rezko's propitious sale of property to Obama, Obama stayed as far away from Novak as he could get. No lengthy, sitdown interview has ever been allowed by his handlers.

It's not unusual. Hillary Clinton, too, has declined interviews with investigative reporters, among them a New York Times team whose book is just being released.

In the world of presidential politics the mission is clear, staying on message is essential, and the larger, broader national audience is a far, far more desirable target.

Whoever said ''all politics is local'' just wasn't paying attention.