At a news conference hours later, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said the corruption charges against Blagojevich represent “a truly new low” and “would make Lincoln roll over in his grave.”
“This is a sad day for government,” he said at a news conference with federal prosecutors to discuss the arrest of Blagojevich. “Gov. Blagojevich has taken us to a truly new low.”
[Patrick] Fitzgerald called Blagojevich’s actions in the last several weeks as “a political corruption crime spree.”
The head of the FBI office in Chicago said if Illinois isn’t the most corrupt state in the United States, it’s a strong competitor.
Corruption in Chicago/Illinois politics. Heaven forfend! Who knew?
Barack Obama knew.
#2. Yup. He most certainly did. And we elected him anyway. Interesting. Or depressing.
Or, perhaps, it just depends on what the meaning of “corruption” is.
I voted against Obama. One of the reasons, among many others, was that I feared connections to Chicago corruption would surface after the election. Major news outlets were simply unwilling to follow the trail of things which suggested Obama connections to corrupt political figures. However, in all fairness, #2, #3, there is as yet no solid evidence tying Obama to payoffs.
It is evident that Obama got huge donations from organized labor and has promised to push for a law removing the right to a secret ballot in union organizing elections. Whether this is an illegal quid pro quo is something I don’t know.
I live in greater Chi-town. I did not vote for Obama. But I do not believe that he was involved with Gov. B. The main reason is that he is just too smart. The Gov. has been under investigation for years. Obama would have been a fool to get involved with him–especially after the Rezko trials. Also, the Gov. has shown that he did not want Obama’s imput–he had his own plans to sell the seat for his own gain.
No, fair is fair. Obama may have suspected or even known just from the rumor mill what was going on. But I don’t believe that he was involved. Patrick Fitzgerald is the best thing to happen to IL. He’s sharp and fair. Keep you eye on him–if he implicates Obama in any way, be sure there is solid evidence behind it. Until then it’s just Gov. B and his cronies sick little scheme.
WHAT did Obama know and WHEN did he know it ?
I agree with Katherine, Summersnow, and Matt that some commenters’ rush to blame or witch-hunt Obama is unjustified and unseemly. Remember the Ninth Commandment.
The 5th amendment will feature more prominently in this whole mess than any commandment.
So we are to conclude … what?
Entré to the highest levels of the Democratic Party political system in Chicago/Illinois is tightly regulated by the Daley Political Machine (DPM). Has been the ‘on the ground’ fact for nearly 50 years. Family business. Father picked it up from the previous owners and passed it on the his son.
Now some will take issue with my assertion of the DPM’s lock on Chicago/Illinois Democrat politics.
Fine. For those issue takers, please name me one ‘grass roots’ Democrat in or around the area surrounding Chicago who has been elected to high state-wide (legislature and up or US Senate) or top-level Chicago (city council and up or Congressman of a Chicago district) elected office against the opposition of the DPM in the past 40-50 years.
Now to Mr. Obama. As a former state Senator elected to the Illinois legislature and the junior Illinois Senator elected to the US Congress, can anyone posit any scenario under which the DPM would allow Mr. Obama to succeed to those offices unless he were not ‘on board’ or, at least not opposed to the DPM agenda?
Now it may by that Mr. Obama was just unaware of what was going on around him in Chicago and Springfield. It may be that his highly commended intellect honed by matriculation at some of our nation’s finest colleges and universities and stunning political accumen that humbled the Clinton’s failed to notice the way things have been for decades in Chicago/Illinois Democrat politics under the DPM. Therefore, Mr. Obama truly has not been not a party or willing non-obstructionist to such long standing criminal activity because he just didn’t know what he had joined and hadn’t been actively solicited to participate personally. In other words, he was a naif of the first order.
Or there may be a more sinister explanation yet to be determined.
Mr. Obama’s electors were elected on November 4th. It appears he will become our President Elect on December 15 when the electors vote. And he will be inaugurated our 44th President on January 20, 2009.
A naif or had a role in the DPM, but first and foremost, he will be our President.
[i] WHAT did Obama know and WHEN did he know it? [/i] —#7
Let’s keep our local Obama-haters’ rumblings in perspective.
1. Obama had every right to make recommendations about who Blagojevich should appoint to replace him. He would have violated no law or ethical norm by doing so.
2. We have no evidence whatever that Obama offered, attempted to offer, or conspired to offer any bribe to Blago. Moreover, Obama had no reason to do any of those things. He had [i] nothing to gain and much to lose [/i] from playing along with Blago.
3. The remaining question is whether Obama has told the truth about the extent of his contacts with Blago. Lying about them would be wrong and could seriously damage Obama’s reputation. If Obama-haters believe he lied, we will see. But they should stop pretending that’s the same issue as offering bribes to Blago.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
As prominent examples of honest Democrats from Illinois [#11], consider Adlai Stevenson, Paul Douglas, Abner Mikva, Paul Simon, and Alan Dixon.
#12, my challenge was to produce the name of a single Democrat grass roots candidate who was elected without the blessing (i.e., under the ‘ownership’) of the Daley Political Machine (DPM). Stevenson and Douglas enterd politics well before the time frame I specified. The other gentlemen you name were all thoroughly housebroken, pledged fealty to the DPM and served it well.
Still waiting for a name.
[i] This thread has gone totally off topic. It will be closed and many comments will be deleted. [/i]