....or Rudy Giuliani, or something like that.
Seriously, I'm trying to get my arms around this new story on the Blagojevich scandal that the New York Times has put out there. The lede of the article is tantalizing:
In a sequence of events that neatly captures the contradictions of Barack Obama’s rise through Illinois politics, a phone call he made three months ago to urge passage of a state ethics bill indirectly contributed to the downfall of a fellow Democrat he twice supported, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich.
Mr. Obama placed the call to his political mentor, Emil Jones Jr., president of the Illinois Senate. Mr. Jones was a critic of the legislation, which sought to curb the influence of money in politics, as was Mr. Blagojevich, who had vetoed it. But after the call from Mr. Obama, the Senate overrode the veto, prompting the governor to press state contractors for campaign contributions before the law’s restrictions could take effect on Jan. 1, prosecutors say.
OK, so what I'm getting from that is that Barack Obama supports ethics in government, that he doesn't think state contractors should be making large campaign contributions. Hey, that's a good thing, right?Right?
Uh, according to the New York Times, not necessarily:
Beyond the irony of its outcome, Mr. Obama’s unusual decision to inject himself into a statewide issue during the height of his presidential campaign was a reminder that despite his historic ascendancy to the White House, he has never quite escaped the murky and insular world of Illinois politics. It is a world he has long navigated, to the consternation of his critics, by engaging in a kind of realpolitik, Chicago-style, which allowed him to draw strength from his relationships with important players without becoming compromised by their many weaknesses.
"Beyond the irony of its outcome..."? Huh? How about...beyond the irony of the fact that an Obama phone call for an ethics reform bill -- strongly opposed by none other than Rod Blagojevich -- is an excuse to somehow tie him to the "murky" world of Chicago politics. Look (as Obama himself might say), there's some interesting new information in this Times article, but their basic perspective is all upside-down wrong.
Did it occur to them that maybe Obama was elected 44th president of the United States exactly because he HAS escaped "the murky and insular world of Illinois politics"? When people ask why would someone like Obama involve himself in Chicago politics, the bottom line is Chicago is where he lived -- he moved there to organize laid-off steelworkers, got a job there and then even married a Windy City native.
Most people run for office in THE CITY WHERE THEY LIVE -- that caused Obama to cross paths with an interesting cast of characters, but in the case of Rod Blagojevich, it seems like once he took the measure of the man he didn't want much to do with him. He had little to do with Blago after 2006, didn't even ask him to speak at the Dem convention in 2008, and his people didn't give the governor the time of day regarding his recent Senate machinations. Obama mostly kept their "murky" world at arm's length, which is a reason why he is president-elect and why the notion that a machine hack like Blagojevich could even think about running for president in 2016 is almost proof of his insanity.
But this Times story is Day One of what is going to be a brand new silly season in American politics, just when you thought it was safe. No matter how much the next few days demonstrate that Obama didn't want any part of Blago's scam, every phone call in which a junior staffer didn't immediately hang up, or any time that Obama and Blagojevich were in the same room and Obama didn't slap a pair of cuffs on the governor will be more proof of the "murky" circles that Obama travels in.
Wait until they found out that Obama's set foot in Philadelphia, too.
President Bush should pardon Blagojevich, so he can continue to muck things up for Obama. Moreover, President Bush should pardon Obama for his campaign contribution fraud and for his yet-to-be investigated quid-pro-quos with the corrupt Tony Rezko...... The Presidential Pardon can be a fun toy to play with.— Mr. Smith
TYpical of all the rightie yahoos that they will try to pin something on Obama when all evidence points to the contrary. Like Rahm Emmanuel turning in the governor. Like the phone call mentioned above. Like blagojevich admitting on tape that Obama wasn't helping, that the US attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, whom Rove tried to get fired, admitting that Obama had no involvement whatsoever. Righties never let truth get in the way of their crying (see: Irag-wmds, etc).— mike l- TYpical of all the rightie yahoos that they will try to pin something on Obama when all evidence points to the contrary. Like Rahm Emmanuel turning in the governor. Like the phone call mentioned above. Like blagojevich admitting on tape that Obama wasn't helping, that the US attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, whom Rove tried to get fired, admitting that Obama had no involvement whatsoever. Righties never let truth get in the way of their crying (see: Irag-wmds, etc).— mike l
Comment removed.
Barack Obama, the billion dollar candidate, supports an ethics reform bill designed to curb the influence of money in politics?— jmc- "In a sequence of events that neatly captures the contradictions of Barack Obama’s rise through Illinois politics, a phone call he made three months ago to urge passage of a state ethics bill indirectly contributed to the downfall of a fellow Democrat he twice supported, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich." Never mind that Obama helped block Illinois ethics reform prior to that call. "Did it occur to them that maybe Obama was elected 44th president of the United States exactly because he HAS escaped "the murky and insular world of Illinois politics"? " Yah, sure, Will. His fundraising brought in millions in untraceable small donations. He lied about his level of association with Ayers, he lied about his knowledge of Wright, and now aides are 'correcting' a statement by Axelrod that he had talked to Blag-o-Crook. Obama didn't escape jack, Will - he just merged Chicago politics with Little Rock politics, and we'll get the worst of both. But go ahead, keep waving those Obama-poms as you downplay missteps by the Messiah. After all, hard-nosed reporting is only to be applied to GOP presidents.— db_cooper
- Hmmm Blago is Repub, right? Fitz only goes after Repubs and his cases are flimsy on hard evidence, right?!. And only a repub is as corrupt as Blago - he's gotta be a repub!!!! Please media, stop putting that "D" after his name!!!— SgtOLeary
- Corruption in politics is not a right or left thing. For every D there's an R and vice versa. Didn't I read that Rezko was Blago's bag man? And Obama had ties to Rezko? So I don't think the suggestion in the article the the politics in Chi-town be a little murky was that far off base. But JMC, just because someone can raise a lot of money, doesn't mean they can't support limitations on where donations come from. That kind of linear thinking won't get you anywhere.— etotheb
- "He lied about his level of association with Ayers"...--}}} lol! Lemmed guess, db - you're gonna trot out the "launched his career in Ayers' living room canard once again? Still smarting that your new-found loves and heroic crusading reformers, McCain and Palin, got shot down by the American public, eh? Oh, right, I forgot, the only reason that happened was because of the vast left-wing media conspiracy. My bad. Obama is certainly nor more corrupted than the bloke we've had for the past eight years. The bloke you voted for twice. And the upside is that Obama appears not to be an idiot, and he will help pull the country out of the economic and foreign policy mess your boy got us into. Chin up, db. Holding all that bitterness inside is bad for your health.— Talking point sleuth
- Comment removed.
Even if there were evidence that Obama was involved, the media would protect him. I'm suprised President Bush hasn't been blamed yet. It is his fault that it is raining today isn't it? BTW, this is the same same Patrick Fitzgerald that kept the Valerie Plame investigation going for 2 1/2 years AFTER he he knew who leaked her name just so he could a process crime. Why shut this down so soon when they knew everytime Blago breathed with the bugs they had in place? Who were they trying to protect? Curious to say the least.— georgel- Comment removed.
- You guys are hilarious. Really. No connections whatsoever, in fact evidence to the contrary, yet you continue to insist that it exists. Sorta like how you insisted that there were deeper connections to ayers that the librul media was ignoring. Obama Derangment Syndrome is in full effect, and he hasn't even started two wars or doubled the debt yet.— RG
- There we go, folks. "The media" "The media" is responsible for Bush being a complete failure in every respect. "The media" is responsible for fooling the majority of voters into thinking that after 8 years of failure, a McCain/Palin ticket was a loser. "The media" is going to hide anything negative about Obama, and by the way, anything negative you can imagine about Obama is, in fact, true. I'm thinking I may have to bwaaaack these guys.— Talking point sleuth
- Comment removed.
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About Will Bunch
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Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
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