Politics & Power Quote by Richard M. Daley

Daley is selling municipal governance like a contact sport: progress happens at "the edge", where comfort ends and liability begins. Coming from Chicago's long-reigning mayor, the language reads less like dreamy innovation talk and more like a managerial creed sharpened by machine politics. "I enjoy getting things done" is the key credential in a city where ideology is often secondary to delivery: plows on streets, permits moving, deals closing. It's a self-portrait of the mayor as foreman, not philosopher.

The repetition of "edge" does two jobs. It flatters the listener with a sense of boldness while leaving the content conveniently undefined. "Edge of something" is a blank check: it can mean modernizing city services, pushing redevelopment into contested neighborhoods, or just moving faster than opposition can organize. That vagueness is strategic in local government, where every "creative" move has a constituency that benefits and another that pays.

Then there's the quiet command structure embedded in the pep talk. "Creativity in people around you" isn't a celebration of bottom-up civic imagination; it's a directive to aides, department heads, and contractors to stretch, hustle, take risks - and align with the mayor's tempo. Daley frames the edge as a place "we have to go", turning ambition into obligation.

In context, it's also a defense against the stereotype of city halls as procedural and timid. He counters with a promise of restless motion, but the subtext hints at the Chicago way: innovation, yes, but disciplined, centralized, and aimed at tangible outcomes - the kind you can point to at election time.