Mayor Richard M. “Richie” Daley has decided not to run for reelection as Mayor of Chicago.

Basically, given his history, my guess is that he knows that a corruption indictment is coming, and he wants to clear the deck in preparation.

There are whispers that Rahm Emanuel might take a shot at running for mayor, but I don’t think so.

Rahm has failed upward his entire political career, NAFTA, trying to kill the 50 state strategy, running pro-war candidates who lost, etc.

You can make money in Washington, and on Wall Street (Rahm worked at Wasserstein Perella and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac)) based on connections, but if you are the Mayor of Chicago, you have to make things work.

Just ask former Chicago Mayor Michael Bilandic.

Rahm might have the chops for the party politics, it is what he excels at, but at making worthwhile things happen, he is simply incompetent, and if he were to be mayor, he would be a one term mayor, and he would be unelectable thereafter, at least in Illinois.

But I’ve gotten off topic. My thesis is that Daley is resigning because US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is getting to close for comfort.