Obama can wait

Your alderman is your elected representative, and is the local equivalent of a member of Congress. He or she is a legislator, making laws and codes ("ordinances"). An alderman affects your day to day life far more directly than Senators and Congressmen do, yet many of us are currently distracted by an election nearly two years off than by an election only two weeks away. Forget about Obama, about Hillary, about Romney and Gingrich. Concentrate on the here and now. Last week ago I was standing outside a coffee shop when I was approached by three freshly scrubbed Northwestern University journalism students. They wanted to know which presidential candidate I liked. I told them it was too early to make a good judgment, since not everyone who will eventually run has declared himself or herself to be candidates yet. I said it would be premature to pick a winner from a field in which not all of the players have yet arrived. "How do I choose between Person A, who I know something about, and Person X, whose name I don't even know yet?" They gave me that friendly but squinty-eyed look that college journalism students usually perfect by their third semester. I know; I was one once myself. They were thinking, something rare for journalism students these days, so I waited patiently while neurons connected. Finally: "But it's an important race. You don't have a favorite?" "Not yet. Besides, there is plenty of time to think about it. Two years, nearly. You know, when I was your age," I said, and had that queasy feeling one my age gets when they say, "when I was your age," "When I was your age," I told them, "it was unheard of for serious presidential candidates to declare this early. Back then they declared their candidacy about a year before the election, and nobody really cared much until the primaries started." Again, the third-semester look from them, but I forged ahead. "Look, why don't you all ask people who they're going to vote for in the upcoming Chicago aldermanic elections? I mean, it's only a couple of weeks away." The looks became more intense. "Not only is the election just days away, in some ways it's more important than the presidential election." The third-semester looks of feigned thinking melted into expressions of utter confusion. "No, really, think about. A city council member, or alderman, has a far greater affect on your daily life than any president. Or any member of Congress, for that matter. When you get a parking ticket, it's your alderman who voted on the fine. It's your alderman, not Congress or the President, who has direct influence over what kind of stores and restaurants are in your neighborhood, over how well the streets are plowed, the enforcement of safety codes in your homes, the maintenance of the local police and fire fighting budgets, and the quality of the schools in the neighborhood where you live." I let this sink in, which, happily, it seemed to. The three of them exchanged glances, then one said, "You may have just changed the way we do this story." I would like to think I did. I'd like to think that those students pursued the presidential election story but put a local twist on it, using what I said. I'd like to think so. I don't know if they did or not. I doubt it. The aldermanic elections in Chicago will be held on February 27. That's just days away. The presidential election is over a year and a half away. Can we, in Chicago, put that on the back burner for just a few days and concentrate on who our next group of city council members - our most local of all legislators - will be?