War & Peace Quote by Richard M. Daley

Daley’s line is a velvet glove over a hard political calculus: don’t pick fights you can’t win, and don’t insult voters you still need. The “suburban areas” and “collar counties” are where Chicago’s gravitational pull weakens into property taxes, school districts, and a reflexive suspicion of City Hall. Saying he “gets along with them” is less kumbaya than boundary management. He’s signaling détente to jurisdictions that often define themselves in opposition to Chicago, especially on crime, patronage, and who pays for regional infrastructure.

The sly move is the next clause: “they’re former Chicagoans anyway.” It’s a claim of ownership disguised as familiarity. Daley reframes suburban autonomy as an offshoot of the city, turning a political rival into a demographic echo. If you fled, you’re still ours. That’s classic Daley: transactional, territorial, and just jocular enough to pass as a harmless aside. It also smuggles in a cultural truth about metro Chicago: the suburbs aren’t a separate civilization; they’re frequently the city’s middle class diaspora, taking their loyalties, resentments, and sports-team attachments with them.

The context is late-20th-century regionalism, when mayors had to negotiate airports, expressways, water, and economic development across municipal borders without looking weak at home. Daley’s intent is to reassure suburbanites he won’t wage a symbolic culture war, while reminding Chicagoans that he can speak the language of the whole region. The punchline doubles as a map: the city’s power doesn’t stop at the border sign; it just changes zip codes.