Chicago Tribune reporter John Kass is an old school journalist. He’s one among a cadre of Windy City reporters, most from the Sun Times and the Tribune, who routinely expose the hooligans and shenanigans of the Chicago Political Machine.

Kass says the national MSM ignored the political environment that gave birth to Barack Obama.

While Kass calls Obama “a Chicago political guy,” he knows the Machine is multi-layered. While the hub is Chicago, spokes extend throughout Cook County, and reach deep inside the state capital at Springfield.

Because the MSM ignored the Machine from which Obama emerged, the electorate didn’t realize that voting for Obama meant endorsing politics the Chicago way. Consequently, those outside Illinois knew little about the Machine, how it cleans up its messes, and how the clean-ups can impact individual lives. For example: (more…)

Will the Chicago Machine corruption story break wide open in 2010?

If you think Chicago crook and long-time Obama buddy Antoin Rezko is serving out his jail sentence, think again.

Antoin “Tony” Rezko is a forgotten man. During the presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton tried to make Barack Obama’s connection with Rezko an issue.

On June 4, 2008, Rezko was convicted in federal court on 16 charges of corruption. For a day or so, he was big news.

After that, a national media that ignored Obama’s connections with the corrupt Chicago political machine lost all interest in Rezko.  After all, there was an “historic” election to influence, and anything that made Obama’s shady past the subject of a national conversation had to be squelched. (more…)