By Carol Felsenthal
Gingrich, who has been accused of lobbying for Freddie Mac, need look no further for a soulmate than the West Wing of the White House, where he'll find Daley, a former nonregistered lobbyist. Read more
Tag: Writers – Carol Felsenthal
By Carol Felsenthal
The lifelong Chicagoan was replaced by Derrick Rutledge, the subject of a recent Washington Post profile, but she remains friends with the First Lady—and dishes to us about her previous "fairy tale" job. Read more
By Carol Felsenthal
“I’m going to kill that fucking dog.” So said President Obama’s then-Chief-of-Staff, Rahm Emanuel—according to White House insider Jonathan Alter, the former Chicagoan and Newsweek correspondent. Rahm, it seems, was not exactly besotted by Bo, the Obamas’ Portuguese water dog. I remembered the quote while reading about Emanuel’s plan... Read more
By Carol Felsenthal
In part two of my conversation with the Chicago Teachers Union president, she shares about her time at Dartmouth College, why she left the classroom for the CTU job, her thoughts on the poverty gap, and more... Read more
By Carol Felsenthal
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis has had some ugly squabbles with Rahm Emanuel—the longer school day battles, for starters, including his recent charge that the union is “cheating children out of an education”—and, in my opinion, she has often emerged the loser. Here’s part one of an edited transcript of our conversation—about Rahm, Jean-Claude Brizard, Arne Duncan, and the longer school day... Read more
By Carol Felsenthal
After the government dismissed charges against Robert “Rob” Blagojevich, the brother of former Governor Rod Blagojevich returned to Nashville with his wife to try to rebuild his business and his life. Why is he putting himself back in the spotlight, offering to travel to Washington to appear before members of the House Ethics Committee in its investigation of Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.? Read more
By Carol Felsenthal
Michelle Obama was in Chicago Tuesday to promote her “Let’s Move!” campaign for healthy eating and exercise. It’s an important issue and worthy of the her attention, but it seems small-bore compared to other First Ladies'... Read more
By Carol Felsenthal
Guzzardi, a 2009 graduate of Brown University with a major in comparative literature, announced in August that he’s running in the Democratic primary for state rep of the 39th District. Read more
By Carol Felsenthal
Former City Clerk Miguel del Valle, 60, came in a distant third in the mayor’s race early this year, but during his campaign he tapped into a progressive vein, championing for “world-class neighborhoods” and gaining a cadre of young supporters. Here, my conversation with him this week, including his thoughts on Rahm, Barack, and Occupy Chicago... Read more
By Carol Felsenthal
My last book was about Bill Clinton’s post-presidency. He was in exile back in 2001, almost broken by the Lewinsky scandal, with his outlandish pardon to billionaire Iran arms trader Marc Rich nearly finishing him off. Today, soaring in mass affection while his onetime nemesis Barack Obama (think 2008 primaries) sinks, Clinton is no longer anything close to an exile; he’s the toast of every town and country he visits. When news broke that he was coming to town for Chicago Ideas... Read more