Whether the scandal involving Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich ends up being known as Blagobama or Blagopalooza will be determined in time. What is important now is to watch events unfold and play out.
As some have expressed, I also have deep reservations about this man being tried and convicted in the media. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is like any other crusader. He likes his own name in the paper.
Nevertheless, this is one of the worst scandals in political history. The charges, while only allegations, are mind boggling.
I will be the first to say that the pay for play scandal regarding the vacant Illinois Senate seat, while deserving more than a shoulder shrug, is not the end all be all of badness.
What truly makes this an epic scandal is the attempt to extort money from a children’s hospital. There are some lines that people do not cross because such behavior is considered unfathomable. Blackmailing sick kids is truly one for the ages. Children are the most vulnerable of us in society, and anything that affects them negatively is viewed in a very harsh light.
Questions are now circulating around everybody from Jesse Jackson Jr. to Rahm Emanuel to even Barack Obama.
The Tygrrrr Express will not be spending time on this story unless actual events in the form of evidence merit further analysis.
Some people feel that this scandal is much ado about nothing. Wrong. An entire corrupt state is out of control, and needs to be cleaned up. O thers feel that this is going to bring down the Obama Presidency before the inauguration. I doubt it. The most likely scenario is that low level people will get ensnared, and then those waiting for the “big fish” will be disappointed. Blago will go to prison, and the news will bludgeon us with more Natalee Holloway coverage until the next political scandal is served up.
Right now the only person accused of any wrongdoing was Blago. Therefore, to even bother making accusations against anybody else would be premature.
Before getting to Barack Obama, it is important to look at the Prosecutor. Patrick Fitzgerald spent 3 years investigating a non-scandal about nothing. He pursued charges against Scooter Libby when he knew the entire time that Richard Armitage was the leaker of the Vanity Fair posing socialite and sometimes secret agent Valerie Plame. Many people to this day still cannot put aside their hatred of President Bush to admit that he was completely innocent of any wrongdoing of any kind in this matter.
If Barack Obama had anything to do with this scandal, then Blago will give him up in a heartbeat. It should not take years to find this out. Fitzgerald needs to lean hard on Blago. This will either implicate or exonerate Obama. Either way, it should be rapid. Also, if Blago implicates Obama, and turns out to be lying, additional charges should be tacked on to Blago. Fitzgerald has to put aside his own desire for a bigger fish if it conflicts with the truth.
With regards to Obama, many are trying to rush to judgment based on his being from Chicago. While I have been very tough on corrupt cities such as Chicago, I was also personally enraged when liberals tried to link President Bush to a non-scandal involving Enron simply because both were from Texas. I live in California, and was living here in 1994. Therefore, under this logic, I could be arrested for the murders of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson.
Does Chicago have what appears to be a systemic corruption problem? Absolutely. Are there honest public servants that have represented Illinois? Of course. The late bow tie wearing Senator Paul Simon was considered a man of honor and integrity. It is possible to be in that state and not be a felon.
Bringing things back to Obama, some question how Obama could have escaped Chicago free of corruption. The answer is that Barack Obama has made himself a success by offending nobody. That is the key to Obama. He is inoffensive.
My biggest criticism of Obama during the campaign was that I found him to be an empty suit that stands for nothing. I still feel that way. However, the reason why Obama has become a myth for many people is because he is whatever you want him to be. People project their own hopes and dreams onto him. In other words, just because people agree with him does not mean that he agrees with them. People who will be disappointed in him may need to check the record to see if he ever actually said anything to indicate support.
One fellow I have had the pleasure of meeting was a neighbor of the Obamas while he was a U.S. Senator from Illinois. WHile the neighbor disagreed with virtually everything Obama stood for, he found Obama to be an absolute gentleman. He emphasized to me several times that one word to describe Obama was “polite.” He would listen, nod his head, very calmly and respectfully express differing views, and continue nodding his head in agreement. This had the effect of making Obama appear to be in complete harmony with somebody that he totally disagreed with. This is clever, and perhaps manipulative, but it is certainly not a crime.
Barack Obama minded his manners in Chicago. His ambition was matched only by his politeness. Did he associate with unsavory characters? Of course. Yet he has a reputation for throwing people under the bus the minute they become a liability. That indicates to me that he is not a man who sticks around when corruption is rearing its head. Obama does not stay in one place long enough to develop good or bad habits. He uses people and then moves on. This is not an indictment of the man, despite what may seem to be an unflattering portrait. He is simply a conventional politician.
It may seem like perverse logic, but his lack of loyalty towards those who helped him along is actually less likely to make him corrupt. If anything, he wants to keep his nose clean. He is not a betrayer in the form of Judas. If anything, he simply separates loyalty from blind loyalty. To make the argument that Obama has no loyalty at all seems to be contradicted by his outward and very believable appearance as a loving husband and doting father.
One point that was made about Obama was that if he had serious skeletons in his closet, the Clintons would have absolutely found them. After all, they were not shy about engaging in the politics of personal destruction.
For those wondering why I am taking such a relaxed attitude about Obama, it is because I have no interest in fighting the campaign after the election has ended.
In my mind, Obama is not going to do anything positive or negative until after he is inaugurated. Even if he selects a cabinet member that concerns me, that is still a worry about what he might potentially do. I will wait until he actually does something that bothers me.
I do not want a cloud of scandal hanging over this man. I saw what the left did to a good, honorable man in George W. Bush. I refuse to play the revenge game.
If Barack Obama turns out to be a crook and a liar, the truth will come out. The only obligation Obama has with regards to the Blago matter is to refuse to interfere with the investigation. Personally, I do not even need him to promise to let Fitzgerald do his job. Those are words. If he stays out of the way, he has behaved appropriately.
Fitzgerald has dual obligations. He needs to get to the truth, but not become Javert trying to capture Jean Valjean. America is going through tough times, and we cannot have our entire nation paralyzed.
Clinton’s paralysis was his own fault. He actually was corrupt. He was to blame. Obama does not fall into that category yet. Our enemies cannot become emboldened because America is paralyzed by scandal.
As long as Fitzgerald and Obama behave responsibly, this will be dealt with fairly. Fitzgerald was irresponsible during the Bush Administration during a war. He cannot make the same mistake twice.
If Fitzgerald knows what the truth is, he must not pursue other avenues that may provide him more fame.
As of now, Barack Obama has not been accused of anything illegal. Until and unless that changes, Blago, if convicted, should go to jail. The book should then be closed.
eric
Wow. you guys are really hung up on this.
No one care about this? http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122903010173099377.html?mod=testMod
How about ol’ “Conflict of Interest” Corker and the GOP union busting liars club?
No takers?
I didn’t thinks so.
JMJ
Old Jersey.
I was on this yesterday and its been on CNN and FOX once already.
http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=2545#comments
Its not “us guys” who are hung up on it.
If we are hung up on it, its in the context that both Eric and I have already made statements that are more than fair to Obama as he is innocent til proven guilty.
That, if you paid attention, was the crux of the article. Solidified by the fact that Eric said;
“I do not want a cloud of scandal hanging over this man.”
“As of now, Barack Obama has not been accused of anything illegal. Until and unless that changes, Blago, if convicted, should go to jail. The book should then be closed.”
I said a couple days ago;
““If its any consolation it does appear that Obama was backing away from Blagojevich early enough in the game to give him some clearance here and his aids I believe told Blogjevich that they werent paying for anything.”
So, all you’re doing again is making a false issue.
We are not out to implicate Obama.
This is on every station right now 24/7 so its hard for anyone to not talk about it.
But I appreciate that you’re not being biased by wanting to draw attention to another crooked leftist.
http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?zip=10022&last=MADOFF&first=BERNARD
Blago is more interesting due to the amount of people this could trickle down to who are all politicians who ask us for their trust on a regular basis.
Oh Micky, give it a rest. This whole thing is nonsense. It’s not “one of the worst scandals in political history,” as Eric said. It’s bad, but the system worked and the culprit was caught in the act. A few more people would have been involved, they’ll go down too. Bla bla bla. Meanwhile we’re rocked by the massive historic disaster that was the GOP one-aprty state and all you guys can do is divert, divert, divert. Limabugh, FOX, WSJ, the whole Rightwing Blogosphere, all they can do is drone on endlessly about “Blago” while all this is going to play out in the courts soon enough and all will be said and done. No talk about the finanical disater. No talk about the automobile industry. No talk about the wars. No talk anbout the Lame Duck sleaze-seesion that’s taking place. No talk about the debt and deficit. No talk about anything but this one stupid scandal in Illinois. Amazing. I’ll think I’ll just get out of this now until you guys can talk about something else.
JMJ
And to see our good host just flatly dismissing Fitz’s prior investigations while whooping up this one is just plain ol’ hypocrisy. What’s the ethical difference between selling a senate seat and using the justice department as a political weapon? They’re both just as wrong.
Our good host says his main goal in blogging is to fight “Ideological Bigotry.” Bigotry, in the end, is treating someone unfairly – treating someone differently than someone else just because of an irrelevent and arbitrary bias. This whole post is just that. very disappointing.
JMJ
Ok, quick cameo time.
Fitzgerald’s last witch hunt was unethical because he knew the truth exonerated the White House, and deliberately suppressed it for whatever reasons.
If he is going to try this in the media (which we all agree is bad), he must treat exculpatory evidence with the same seriousness as evidence that blosters his case.
If he can clear Obama right now, then he has an obligation to do it, publicity be d@mned.
eric
Okay, since Eric’s chimed is, I will too: Fitz doesn’t have to clear Obama for anything – Obama is NOT implicted in this. As for the Plame matter, Fitz did NOT “know” or “deliberately suppress” anything. All he had was some hearsay and conflicted testimonials from that pack of liars over at the White House. He has done NOTHING unethical in this case or that case that I have seen thus far. This should be obvious to any honest observer. Our good host just doesn’t like what happened in the Plame case, but has no proof offered thus far that anything was suppressed or unethical. And againm I must call hypocrisy – if Bill Cltinon’s administraion had done the same thing to Plame that the Bush White House did, you guys would have screamed bloody murder. You guys would let Bush commit treason rater than ever manning up and admitting that he and his administration are the incompetent, corrupt failures that the vast majority of eductaed people around the world know them to be.
JMJ
Jersey.
I see no difference in your wanting to make something out of Madoff except that this story implicates democratic politicians whom you just cant stand to see getting lit up.
It is one of the worst and theres a lot of crooked dems involved in this one.
If you’re gonna go on and on about what a catastrophy the right has been the least you could do is back it up. (with a new arguement that hasnt been totally dismantled by me a hundred times).
Which by saying that brings up the point that while you say this is nonsense and bla bla you have had the same DAMN thing to say for the last year and a half.
So if you’re gonna talk about dropping something why dont you drop the BDS shtick as in a few months you’ll have no one to blame but yourself and the guys you voted for.
You have had Bush in your crosshairs for 7 years now, I guess, and accused him of a ton of things you could never prove, and this story on Blago comes up for a few days and you’re bitching about people not dropping it ?????????????????
And then you talk to Eric about hypocrisy ?
Every stinking day since I’ve known you , you’ve been prosecuting Bush and anyone connected to him with absolutley nothing ever to back it up and you have the arrogant idiocy to ask folks to drop this ???????????
Reality check buddy.
Get one.
If you’re going to claim to be so damn educated at least learn how to spell “educated”.
Sorry, but if you’re gonna pull the arrogant liberal smarty pants “we are all so educated” thing you’d better cross your “T”s and dot your “I”s
Micky, I don;t know what you’re talking about. I’m happy Blago got caught, and if anything am very disappointed with the Illinois administration and Democratic party for elevating and enabling this screaming psycho in the first place. Heck, I even hope Emanuel goes down with this. I can’t stand that guy. He’s a sleazy self-promoter who takes all the credit for the ’06 and ’08 elections with the “50 state strategy” that clearly belongs to Howard Dean (who now is retiring after years of abuse by his own party even though he was the single most instrumental figure in bringing them back power). Rahm is a policy-as-usual Blue Dog who may as well just be called Republican Lite. If he goes down, it gives Obama the perfect chance to bring in a more progressive chief of staff.
That‘s what I want. Anyone who was involved in the Blago affair should go down. Period. No problem with me. I just couldn’t imagine Obama being involved. He’s too smart to get in bed with that psychotic moron. I’d be shocked if he was.
As for backing up my opinion of the Right, that’s just stupid. I mean, c’con! Have you been living in a cave the past few years??? I can’t think of one sector (except the very, very filthy rich), one issue, one industry (except oil and war profiteering), one anything other than a smidgeon of private interests, better off today than they were 8 years ago. Can you?
As for spelling, that’s a refuge of scoundrels. The occasional typo is just human error. Only a man without a valid argument would stoop to such preadolescent teasing.
JMJ
As for spelling, that’s a refuge of scoundrels. The occasional typo is just human error. Only a man without a valid argument would stoop to such preadolescent teasing.”
Let me just tell you that I am famous for my horrible spelling and reluctance to take a minute for spell check.
I am almost on record at just about every blog for chewing out people who come after my grammatical errors as they are saying attention to the style more than the substance.
But dude.
If you’re going to attack peoples education at least do your best to avoid the irony of misspelling the word “educated” itself.
As far as the validity of my argument goes if you deny it your a big fat stinking liar.
You have done almost nothing but go after the right for the last 8 years , un relentlessly day after day attacking one man and his party.
And yet we focus on this crime for a few days where even you admit he’s busted and you have the ridiculously outrageous stance of hypocrisy to ask us to drop it ????
Backing up an opinion is not the argument.
Once again, you are lying of a sort when you do this.
You cannot back up an opinion, nor does anyone need to, as it is a matter of personal perspective.
You have made statements asserting that they are fact without ever being able to back any of it up.
Bush lied etc…
Also, you lie if a sort when you say;
“one anything other than a smidgeon of private interests, better off today than they were 8 years ago. Can you?”
You must be honest in your time frame as everything did not just happen today.
In the last 8 years there have been many many financial successes in our country that are not doing as well as they were a couple years ago.
Many people, average Americans were better off in 2003 than they were in 2002. Many people were better off in 2005 than they were in 2004.
Success in this years climate is a little harder to achieve and there are any failures about us also but many honest people cannot deny that business grew and unemployment remained at record lows for years.
Not to mention that the average American standard of living has risen in the last few decades on a very consistent basis.
So, take all your doom and gloom BDS and stick it because its relative to what I was just saying a minute ago.
THAT !!! emphasis you just put on the last 8 years is the same thing you have been doing for 8 years. The same hate filled un provable garbage that you have never been able to prove and yet you act as if we are over reacting to the Blago situation.
Now, what was it you wanted to talk about concerning Madoff ?
Or did you open your yap on that one before you really knew who he was ?
You’ll never tell me if I’m right but I’ll bet money that if the truth miraculously did come out, you probably jumped to the conclusion that he was some right wing Wall street icon that you wanted to crucify juxtapose to Blago ?
Only to find out from me that he’s a rip roaring lefty so you had nothing further to say about that , right ?
Oh, it doesn’t matter, you’re so dishonest you would never “MAN UP” and admit it anyway
J.B.,White “Riddle Me This”
http://rattlergator.typepad.com/rattlergator/2008/12/a-question-over-the-illinois-negotiation.html
Oh that’s an unfortunate comparison. Imus has new competition.
The L Word 25 men who look like old lesbians the Blago edition.
http://getoffmyphone.blogspot.com/2008/12/l-word.html
I seriously heard that Sean Austin has already been choosen to play Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich in the movie about him.
Rudy here we come!