Chicago is a dirty word

In the drive to diminish President Barack Obama, Republicans and conservative pundits have taken to slapping his work with the label of "Chicago-style politics."
It must poll well.
The dig has become code word for dirty political tricks and dishonest campaigning. And it may well make sense to outsiders who instinctively view the Windy City as a den of Al Capones and on-the-take politicians.
House Republican Leader John Boehner had a new take on how politics is played in Chicago today. He said in a statement issued to the press that Chicago-style politics is "when you can't win an argument based on the facts" you instead "launch vicious political attacks."
The context: Boehner is firing back at the White House for trying to malign the many conservative talk show hosts who repeatedly call Obama a racist and a socialist on prime time Fox. He calls the tactic "flat-out despicable."
Now we don't need to get into the background of this latest tussle. But we do have an interest in how 'Chicago-style politics' is portrayed at the national level.
The problem with this label is that in order to have a debate on the facts or 'launch vicious political attacks' in Chicago you would actually have to have a functioning political system of competing parties and ideas.
Chicago hasn't seen that in decades.
The system now is all about who is in or out of good graces with the mayor.
Even arguments over the Olympic bid or sky-high parking meter rates quickly disintegrate into overwhelming victories for Daley on the city council floor.
Now there is plenty to criticize 'Chicago-style politics' on.
It has long been race-bait focused with politicians pitting pieces of the cultural quilt against each other for electoral gain or sucking up to clearly corrupt elements of one group because of their political muscle.
But 'vicious political attacks' in Chicago are something Mayor Richard Daley has worked long and hard to silence.