HIGH NOON IN CHICAGO – AT 9:29 A.M. ET:  So how are things in the president's home city, where his former chief of staff reigns as mayor? 

Well, not so good.  Getting elected in Chicago, for the in-crowd, is a lot easier than governing Chicago.  In fact, in one critical statistic, Chicago has become a public embarrassment, without a single comment by the president of the United States.  From NBC: 

Chicago likes to compare itself to other world cities, so Ward Room thought it would find out how we rank in violence. It turns out no one can top us. Among what are considered Alpha world cities, Chicago has the highest murder rate -- higher even than the Third World metropolises of Mexico City and Sao Paolo. Here’s how we rank in murders per 100,000 among cities we consider our peers, based on a projected murder total of 505 for this year.

Singapore 0.4
Tokyo 0.5
Hong Kong 0.6
Berlin 1.0
Sydney 1.0
London 1.4
Toronto 1.7
Amsterdam 1.8
Paris 4.4
New York 6.0
Los Angeles 7.5
Mexico City 8.0
Moscow 9.6
Sao Paolo 15.6
Chicago 19.4

COMMENT:  Hey, you don't think this has anything to do with culture, do you?  Nah.  What impact can cultural choices possibly have?

And it's the guns, isn't it?  Well, wait.  Chicago has strict gun-control laws.  In fact, there are no gun shops in Chicago.  Anti-gun rhetoric is standard issue.  And look at the numbers.

Please note the dramatic difference between New York and Chicago, with the Chicago murder rate three times that of New York.  It is more than twice that of chaotic Los Angeles.  New York put in place in the best law-enforcement team in the country under Rudy Giuliani.  It cut the murder rate by almost 80%.  The leader of that team later became police commissioner in Los Angeles.  Any connection?  Nah.  We all know that it's the "socio-economic condition of inner-city peoples" that's the problem in Chicago.   Do I have the lingo right?

Chicago is an ongoing tragedy.  We focus on a horror like Aurora, Colorado.  But Aurora is repeated over and over again each year in Chicago, especially in neighborhoods adjoining those where the president has his home, neighborhoods where the not-so-Reverend Wright preached his hatreds. 

Any suggestions from the president?

August 1, 2012