It isn’t just me complaining about Mayor Lightfoot. The Washington Post’s Micheline Maynard observes:
The Chicago Tribune, in an article last month about Lightfoot’s staffing problems and “notoriously abrasive leadership style,†included an email in which the mayor blasted her scheduler. The email began, “Since my prior requests for office time are routinely ignored, I am now resorting to this,†then Lightfoot wrote 16 times in a row, “I need office time every day!†before eventually signing off by writing 13 times in a row “Have I made myself clear, finally?!â€
Also last month, she told news organizations that she would do one-on-one interviews only with journalists of color to mark her two-year anniversary in office. A Latino reporter at the Tribune, Gregory Pratt, canceled an interview to protest the restriction, and Clarence Page, a veteran Black columnist at the paper, labeled the policy a “stunt,†saying, “thanks … but no thanks.â€
In the latest contretemps, during a June 23 Chicago City Council meeting, Lightfoot got into a finger-jabbing argument, in full view of the public and journalists, with Black Alderwoman Jeannette Taylor over Lightfoot’s nominee to be the city’s top attorney.
Indeed, some of Mayor Lightfoot’s harshest critics are black women. They comprise many of those picketing her home.
She concludes:
Donald Trump frequently taunted Lightfoot while he was president, to the point where the mayor snapped back, “Keep Chicago out of your lying mouth.†Trump was an agent of chaos from the right. Lightfoot cannot become an agent of chaos from the left if she wants to build a legacy worthy of the promise that her election held.
I’d say the supply of chaos far exceeds the demand. I think there is a longing for change but change requires higher levels of knowledge and competence than appear to be available.
