Alderman Ed Burke, the man who's been cast as Mayor Rahm Emanuel main antagonist, did his best to make nice with the new mayor.
Burke delivered a lengthy welcome speech that included quotes from from Speaker of the House Tip O'Niell and former President John F. Kennedy, and embraced his new city council president, which is Emanuel's title in the council chambers.
"This truly is the beginning of a new era in Chicago," Burke said. "In keeping with that, Mr. President, welcome. ...God Bless and good luck."
Burke then offered Emanuel a gift. A custom gavel wrapped in bronze and a placard inscriebed with: May 16, 2011 presented to Rahm Emanuel on the day of his inauguration as the 46th mayor of Chicago.
Emanuel acknowledged the gift with a smile.
"We'll you quoted Tip O'Niell," he said. "I thought you were going to say all politics is local. ... and you also quoted a great president, Kennedy, who said presidents get to make two kinds of decisions, bad and worse. ... Truth is we've got a lot of tough decisions ahead of us."
Following the welcome message, and Emanuel's response, Clerk Susan Mendoza began reading off Emanuel appointments for Council Approval.
Get Breaking SMS Alerts: News happens at inopportune times. But you can still be the first to know when political news breaks:
Text WARDROOM to 622669
