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During his U.S. Senate campaign, Barack Obama endorsed Peotone Airport development while also endorsing O’Hare Airport expansion, saying,

“One of the seemingly intractable challenges facing Illinois policymakers is how to address the need for greater airport capacity in our state’s northeastern region. Some advocate the expansion of O’Hare Airport, the world’s busiest, which is suffering from delays that threaten its future as the economic engine of our region. Others advocate the construction of a new airport near south suburban Peotone, which would reduce pressure on O’Hare while spreading the economic bounty more equitably across the region.

This challenge is often portrayed as an ‘either-or’ proposition: We either expand O’Hare or build Peotone. I believe we should do both.”

This issue fits in well with Barack Obama’s consistent, smart attempts to find unity in division. It also was a politically astute way of supporting the initiatives of both Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. - two men who may be vying for the same office. Of course, given the Daley Administration’s recent corruption troubles, and Obama’s cautious distancing from the situation, Barack publicizing his work on the initiative of the possible future Mayor Jackson, Jr. may make more political sense than announcements about trying to expand O’Hare, a project favored by Mayor Daley.