QUESTION – Chicagoans look at you with Chicago, Chicago, Chicago on the wall behind you there’s a certain level of pride. In your view, how did reality match up to fantasy in welcoming world leaders to Chicago and did demonstrators undermine your efforts to project image of Chicago you would have liked to see? Did the demonstrators in anyway undermine your efforts, Mayor Emmanuel’s efforts to project the image of Chicago you would have liked to have seen?
ANSWER - I have to tell you, I think Chicago performed magnificently. Those of us who were in the summit had a great experience. If you talked to leaders from around the world, they loved the city. Michelle took some of the spouses down to the South Side to the Comer Center where wonderful stuff is being done with early education.
They saw the Art Institute. I was just talking to David Cameron, I think he is sneaking off to do a little sightseeing before he heads home. I encouraged everyone to shop; want to boost the hometown economy. We gave each leader a bean, a small model, for them to remember as well as a football from Soldier Field. Many of them did not know what to do with it.
So, people had a wonderful time. And I think the Chicagoans that they interacted with couldn’t have been more gracious and more hospitable. So I think with respect to the protesters, this is part of what NATO defends, free speech, and freedom to assemble and frankly, to my Chicago press, outside of Chicago, folks really weren’t all that stressed about the possibility of having some protesters here because that’s part of what America is about.
Obviously, Rahm was stressed, but he performed wonderfully and Chicago’s police, Chicago’s finest, did a great job under some significant pressure and a lot of scrutiny. The only other thing I’ll say about this is thank you to everybody who endured the traffic situation. Obviously Chicago residents who had difficulty getting home or getting to work, what can I tell you, that’s part of the price of being a world city. But this was a great showcase and if it makes those folks feel any better, despite being fifteen minutes away from my own home, nobody would let me go home. I was thinking I would be able to sleep in my own bed tonight, but they said I would cause even worse traffic, so I ended up staying at a hotel, which contributes to the Chicago economy.
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