The Gadfly Says Not So Fast
President-elect Obama's detractors have been quick to try to link him to Illinois Governor Rod Blogojevich's just-unveiled corruption allegations. Surely, the Obama critics claim, Obama must be involved.
Not so fast.
There is no indication, in the public documents filed thus far, or in the prosecutor's comments, that Obama is involved in any way. In fact, the prosecutor went out of his way, several times, to say that. And there is taped evidence Obama's team wouldn't play Blogojevich's game: The FBI says it taped Blagojevich complaining that Obama advisers were telling him that he had to “suck it up . . . and give this mother----er [the President-elect]] his senator. F--- him. For nothing? F--- him.”
There are joint associations involving the governor and the president-elect that will be fully vetted by federal investigators (and the news media) in the weeks to come.
But guilt by association without facts is irresponsible.
The immediate problem for the president-elect is perception...the perception that he is a product of the worst side of politics, a pay-for-play system that has pervaded, and corrupted, Chicago and Illinois politics for as long as anyone can remember.
Whether Obama will be tainted by the the sure-to-grow scandal remains to be seen. Meanwhile, journalists and bloggers alike might be circumspect in keeping their fingers off their keyboards when it comes to pointing fingers at Obama. ~ Mike McCarville
Not so fast.
There is no indication, in the public documents filed thus far, or in the prosecutor's comments, that Obama is involved in any way. In fact, the prosecutor went out of his way, several times, to say that. And there is taped evidence Obama's team wouldn't play Blogojevich's game: The FBI says it taped Blagojevich complaining that Obama advisers were telling him that he had to “suck it up . . . and give this mother----er [the President-elect]] his senator. F--- him. For nothing? F--- him.”
There are joint associations involving the governor and the president-elect that will be fully vetted by federal investigators (and the news media) in the weeks to come.
But guilt by association without facts is irresponsible.
The immediate problem for the president-elect is perception...the perception that he is a product of the worst side of politics, a pay-for-play system that has pervaded, and corrupted, Chicago and Illinois politics for as long as anyone can remember.
Whether Obama will be tainted by the the sure-to-grow scandal remains to be seen. Meanwhile, journalists and bloggers alike might be circumspect in keeping their fingers off their keyboards when it comes to pointing fingers at Obama. ~ Mike McCarville
Labels: Barack Obama, Gadfly's Columns, Rod Blagojevich
posted by Mike McCarville @ 9:29 AM
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