Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel was sworn in on Monday as mayor of Chicago, replacing the retiring Richard M. Daley, who had governed the city since 1989.
“Today, more than any other time in our history, more than any other place in our country, the city of Chicago is ready for change,” Emanuel said in his inauguration speech at Pritzker Pavilion, according to a Mayor’s Office transcript of his remarks.
The 51-year-old Democrat took the oath of office at Millennium Park downtown, becoming the city’s first Jewish mayor, ABC 7 Chicago reported.
“We must face the truth,” he said in the statement, joined by his wife and three children. “It is time to take on the challenges that threaten the very future of our city: the quality of our schools, the safety of our streets, the cost and effectiveness of city government, and the urgent need to create the jobs of the future.”
Emanuel now presides over a city with challenging financial problems. His transition team has anticipated a $700 million budget shortfall next year.
Emanuel was optimistic in his speech, promising to fund school improvements and repair Chicago’s aging infrastructure.
“I fully understand that there will be those who oppose our efforts to reform our schools, cut costs, and make government more effective,” he said. “Some are sure to say, ‘This is the way we do things—we can’t try something new’ or ‘Those are the rules—we can’t change them.’”
“This is a prescription for failure that Chicago will not accept. … Chicago is the city of ‘yes we can’—not ‘no, we can’t,’” he said, mirroring sentiments once said by his former boss, President Barack Obama.
Emanuel, who represented Chicago in the House of Representatives before becoming Obama’s top aide, also criticized the leaders of other Midwestern states for trying to eliminate union rights for state workers to balance budgets.
“I reject how leaders in Wisconsin and Ohio are exploiting their fiscal crisis to achieve a political goal,” he said. “That course is not the right course for Chicago’s future.”
