Overpromising could come back to haunt Emanuel

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is setting himself up for ridicule by overpromising, making bold savings claims that can’t be verified and by issuing a conveyor-belt of press releases that tout his every move as the first, the best and the only.

Aldermen roll their eyes and talk privately about the Emanuel spin machine all the time. But only a handful dare to talk publicly about it for fear of alienating the mayor.

The problem surfaced again this week when the Chicago Tribune poked holes in Emanuel’s claims about shrinking the city’s food deserts by 21 percent to honor a pivotal campaign promise to African-American voters who helped put him in office.

It was only the latest example of Emanuel hyperbole and moving the goal line when he falls short.

The mayor campaigned on a promise to hire 1,000 additional police officers, then revised the pledge after taking office by adding 1,000 more “cops on the beat,” more than half of them by disbanding special units.

Great moments of Cook County Democrats.