Only 70%? What's wrong with you people?

Mayor Richard M. Daley was reelected yesterday with 70% of the vote. I don't understand why it's not 100%.

Yes, there's corruption in City Hall. I know I should be more upset about it than I am, but truth to tell, there has always been corruption in City Hall and I'm just used to it. Besides, until someone finds $800,000 in shoe boxes under his bed,* I simply do not believe Mayor Richie is making himself rich at the expense of tax payers. And as long as he isn't personally benefiting from it, I'm willing to turn a blind eye to it.

The city is cleaner than it's been in years. There's new construction and new business and new jobs. Yes, the CTA is dirty and unreliable. Yes, the school definitely have room for improvement.

But we're safe here. And it's because of Richard M. Daley.

A political pundit recently said that midwesterners don't really worry too much about terrorism. That may be true of the folks who live and work in the suburbs or downstate. But I spend half my life in this city, and I worry about it every day. I can't help it because reminders crop up all the time. Some mornings there are cops with dogs on el platforms or near the garbage cans in the commuter train stations. Then the next day the cops and dogs are gone. Or there will be police boats in the river under the el tracks in the morning but gone for evening rush. No one discusses it, but we all know why they're there. (An unintentional benefit of the war on terror -- crime is down on the el these days.)

Who puts those cops there? Mayor Daley. The same man who decided I needed to be evacuated from Illinois Center on 9/11. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

A major snowstorm kicked in early afternoon a few weeks ago. The Mayor's office contacted the major office buildings and asked them to close early so the streets wouldn't be clogged and dangerous during afternoon rush. I believe that's more forethought and communication than Mayor Nagin shared in New Orleans before Katrina.

It's a dangerous world, and I'm glad Richard M. Daley is looking out for us.

*Paul Powell was Illinois Secretary of State when I was a little girl. When he died, it was discovered that he had $800,000 cash in shoe boxes.