To understand President Barack Obama (D) it is necessary to understand where he comes from.  And no, I'm not  only referring to Hawaii, Indonesia, Columbia University, Harvard Law School, University of Chicago Law School and any other places he touched down on to his journey to the White House.  All of the preceding were/are important in molding him of course and all have been analyzed in varying degrees of thoroughness.  But one influential component of his life has been relatively neglected--the poisonous Chicago and Illinois political culture he jumped in to, participated in and took with him to Washington.  Known as The Chicago Way it was succinctly summed up by Obama himself while campaigning for the presidency 3 1/2 years ago in Philadelphia; "If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun," a reference to a famous quote from The Untouchables and the notorious Chicago mob's brutal and corrupt philosophy.  As Politico's Ben Smith noted at the...(Read Full Post)