There were concerns that after one of the coldest winters in decades the city of Chicago would not be able to dye the river green for St Patrick’s Day, as is the tradition in one of America’s most Irish cities.
Fortunately, the river has thawed in time for the biggest St Patrick's Day event in the midwestern United States. Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel has no fears about the cold. Two weekends ago, the 54-year-old politician took the "Polar Plunge" into an icy Lake Michigan to raise money for charity.
“The only difference is I won’t be jumping in the river,” Emanuel jokes when asked about plans for the city’s main St Patrick’s Day parade tomorrow.
A trained ballet dancer and keen jogger, the mayor says he was out running on Chicago's streets within hours of his plunge at the start of this month. The former aide in the Clinton White House, Congressman and investment banker – and President Obama's first White House chief of staff – has a steely disposition that insulates him well, and not just from the cold.
Nicknamed “Rahmbo” for his no-holds-barred approach to political battles, Emanuel has developed one of the toughest reputations in American politics. His propensity to use the “f-word” would make an Irishman blush. He, along with two other Democratic staff, famously sent a dead fish to a political strategist who provided flawed polling numbers in the late 1980s.
Now as mayor of America’s third largest city with a population of 2.7 million, Emanuel is battling the city’s high levels of gun crime, troubled public finances, a schools system and ‘tale of two cities’ divide between rich and poor.
Despite his skill at raising large sums from political donors, he faces a tough re-election battle in 2015 as he aims to trim the pensions of city government workers to balance Chicago’s books. His decision to close 47 under-attended public schools last year to save $560 million (€410 million) and a bitter teachers’ strike in 2012 over changes to performance and pay have damaged his brand.
The ambitious politician who once wanted to be the first Jewish speaker of the US House of Representatives has ruled out running for higher office, telling the Financial Times recently that he is "done" after his stint in Chicago.
Still, it's hard to see this happening. His mug features on billboard advertising for a new CNN reality television series Chicagoland that is helping to raise the Chicago mayor's national profile as "tough, visionary mayor," as the documentary series producer Robert Redford has described him.
This isn't the first time he or his likeness has been recreated on television. He was the inspiration for the Josh Lyman character on US political drama, The West Wing .
Succeeding Irish-American politician Richard M Daley, Emanuel became the city's first Jewish mayor in 2011. He acknowledges the city's strong Irish heritage.
Emanuel says that the Irish connection with Chicago “runs deep” and that the City of Big Shoulders, as the city is known, was “built on the shoulders of immigrants”.
“It’s a relationship that goes beyond any other kind of relationship I know,” he said.
The St Patrick’s Day celebrations are not just about the party itself but celebrating Chicago’s heritage as the “most American of American cities . . . a city of immigrants,” he says.
Chicago has not had the same issues that New York and Boston has had with gay and lesbian groups being excluded from their biggest St Patrick's Day marches.
“We are an inclusive city,” says Emanuel. “That is our model and as the mayor of the whole city we set a tone and tenor.”
The strong culture of welcoming new immigrants has bred this sense of inclusivity in the city, he said.
“When you are an inclusive city it meant when the Irish came to Chicago – or like my grandfather, an eastern European Jew, came – Chicago welcomed them, helped them to build up their homes, their places of worship, their communities,” he says.
At a national level, overhauling US immigration laws to give legal status to an estimated 11 million "undocumented" in the US, including thousands of illegal Irish, has stalled in the face of Republican opposition. Emanuel says Democrats are "going to work hard" at making sure it passes Congress.
At a city level, Chicago has established "citizenship corners" in public libraries to provide immigrants with information to help them become naturalised citizens, while at a state level Illinois has allowed undocumented immigrants to qualify for driving licences.
One visitor Emanuel will welcome this weekend is Seán Sherlock, Minister of State for Jobs and Innovation who is representing the Government in Chicago on the annual St Patrick’s Day ministerial exodus.
Recalling St Patrick's Day events as White House chief of staff, Emanuel said the traditional lunch hosted by the speaker of the House, which takes place on Friday, was one of the rare occasions when the Democratic White House and Republicans in Congress came together.
“It is one of the few events, outside of a visiting dignitary who speaks to Congress, that really brings both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue together for a brief, and I mean brief, moment,” he said.
An area where Emanuel is trying to build relations is in Chicago’s international trade. He hopes to use the city’s ethnic diversity and ties around the globe to build economic links. He notes that there are 25 Irish companies with North American headquarters in Chicago.
Another event that will strengthen ties between Ireland and Chicago is the planned visit of Irish President Michael D Higgins in May. The mayor says his office is coordinating with Áras an Uachtaráin to make the most of it both economically and culturally. "I think of it as our second St Paddy's Day visit," says Emanuel.
