The West Wing Is Now The West Loop (of Chicago)

The L goes to Washington: White House becomes 51st Ward :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Lynn Sweet.

It’s a Tuesday in June, and I am in one of the high-ceiling big rooms of the old office building next to the White House. As I look around the room at the players assembled here — including this scribe — I’m thinking that with a few twists of fate, this all-Chicago gang could be huddling in Mayor Daley’s City Hall.

In front of me is Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to President Obama who today is chairing a roundtable marking the 37th anniversary of Title IX, the sports equity law. Across the room is Arne Duncan, the education secretary.Seated in the first row is Tina Tchen, director of the White House public engagement office. Leaning against a wall is Susan Sher, chief of staff for Michelle Obama. In back of me in the vestibule is Daniel Hornung, a graduate of the University of Chicago Lab School who is working this summer for Jarrett.

The Chicagoans have replaced the Texans in the White House.

As a lifelong native Chicagoan, it warms my heart to see the current West Wing look like a portrait of the corridors of power that our previous (and fictitious) Chicagoan White House chief-0f-staff Leo McGarry (may God rest his soul) would be immensely proud.

Indeed, the Chicagoans have replaced the Texans in the White House…

In case you were looking for a gig in the Obama White House, here are some sample requirements you may want to keep in mind for landing a plum job in the West Loop (er, I mean, the West Wing…):

You know what Kennedy, Dan Ryan, Eisenhower and Edens have in common and curse one of them daily;

You know what “the Hillside strangler” is (Hint: Not a serial killer…);

You know why they call it the “Windy City” (think hot-air and not gusty breezes);

You know what Giordanos, Lou Malnati’s, and Gino’s have in common (if you don’t know these, no need to apply…);

You can distinguish between the following area codes without even blinking: 847,630,773,708, 815 & 312…

And finally…

You have actually parked your car in the same city parking garage as Ferris Bueller’s 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California…

(That would be the parking garage at W. Washington Street at Wells Street; for all of you non-Chicagoans out there…)