In The Army Now

1:50 pm, 12/1/04

In The Army Now
Holy Chicago Emperor Daley's 29-year-old son, Patrick Daley (a one-time West Point cadet who holds an MBA from the University of Chicago) has inexplicably joined the Army. Not just the Army, but as Glittering Eye points out:

This is Big News. And not only because Patrick Daley, like thousands of other young Americans, is demonstrating that he has a dramatically different point-of-view and priorities than his parents (the word going around around here is that his parents are not one bit happy with his decision).

Patrick Daley is Democratic Party royalty. Things being what they are in Chicago with no viable Chicago Republican Party and the overwhelming popularity of the Daley name as Richard M. Daley's only son he's all but guaranteed the mayor's office in the fullness of time. But, as his dad said, he's decided to risk it all and do the responsible, honorable, and patriotic thing.

And he's doing it the hard way by going in as an enlisted man when he could easily have received an officer's commission. He's going into an airborne unit.

As the Tribune article points out, the younger Daley has played his youth pretty fast and loose:

The enlistment marks the latest in a variety of educational and career turns for Patrick Daley, who is listed on the U. of C. business school's alumni Web site as managing partner of Companion Capital.

The downtown Chicago address listed for Companion Capital is the same as that for Cardinal Growth, a private investment company that owns a high-tech affiliate that in August won a lucrative city contract over four other bidders to provide wireless Internet access at O'Hare International and Midway Airports.

(Can we get through one news item from Chicago without the corruption?)

Patrick Daley attended St. Ignatius College Prep before transferring to Mt. Carmel High School, where he got his diploma.

Along the way, he suffered his father's wrath when he hosted an unauthorized party in 1992 at the family's Michigan summer home where a fight broke out and a youth was injured after being hit with a bat.

As a college student, young Daley bounced from school to school, ultimately receiving his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Since then, he has held a succession of jobs, including one with Matlock Capital, a firm headed by multimillionaire investor and former U.S. Senate candidate Blair Hull.

Earlier this year, Patrick Daley received an MBA from the U. of C. That achievement made all the more unusual his decision to enter the Army as a private. Patrick Daley, who would have been commissioned as an Army officer had he stayed at West Point, has chosen the life of an enlisted man.

"That is my son, Patrick," the mayor said. "He wants to start where he believes it is important. He has gone to graduate school, the University of Chicago, with honors, and he would rather do that than anything else. From there, he can make his decision in the military, what he wants to do."

"I don't know why people think my father sat there and said, 'You go into politics.' He said, 'Make your own decision.'

"That is the only way you deal with your sons and daughters. Let them make their own decisions. Too many parents make decisions for their children and, unfortunately, they are never happy for the rest of their lives."

His mom is very upset about that decision, but all this leaves open the possibility that when Patrick assumes the throne, he might be an actual person. I'm not totally optimistic, but at least it's possible.

Update: Is Patrick Daley a closet Republican? (I've hit a new low, linking to Chicago gossip columns.)

Update: Blackfive says Patrick's Republican orientation is well known upstate. Fascinating.