Arizona's First Political Blog

E-mail Anonymous Mike at zonitics4-at-yahoo.com

By Anonymous Mike, pseudonymously.

 
Blago the Magnificent

Lee asked me why I hadn't commented on Illinois yet, well he's not the only one. So here are some random thoughts...

I wasn't overly shocked or appalled by what Governor Blagojevich did, but that's just me and my upbringing. I grew up in New Jersey where pay-to-play is a fact of life. Not to say if it happened in say, Arizona, I wouldn't be heading down to the Wesley Bolin with pitchforks and torches but I just come to expect to such things about Illinois

Will this hurt Obama? Oh yes if only because this story will follow him around like a leech, sucking the oxygen out of the room from now until Christmas. Do I think Obama was part of any monkey business? No. Do I think his staff was directly involved? No. However in both the president-elect and his staff's contacts with Blagojevich, it seems to be me they had to be aware of what the creep was up to or at least caught wind of it. How much further it goes than is anybody's guess. So I think there are two possible effects.

First the question is going to be raised when did Obama and his staff get an idea of what was happening and what did they do about it. After that glorious first Tuesday in November, the good man Obama ceased to be a Senator and became a Head-of-State-elect which has a very different set of responsibilities. How much did they know? All of it? Were they going to sit back and let a US Senate seat be sold like a high school prom date? Not a good place to be in and I don't envy them, but those are the bresks. You think it's bad now wait until you get blamed for what some deputy assistant secretary in the Department of Veterans Affairs writes in a memo.

Second, it just refocuses attention on where Obama came from, the biggest political sewer in the country. Yeah I'll give it a top ranking, right above New Jersey, and light years above number 3 which was Arkansas. Remember Whitewater? Remember the cattle futures? Just a sign of the political mudpit the Clintons spent all those years marinating in while living in Little Rock. My guess is this will end up being just a small chink in Obama's armor but if another like story comes up, like something from the Rezko song sheet, then this will be seen as part of a pattern and then who knows?

As for myself, I hope this all passes and we can move on to more important business, but then again when did anybody listen to me anyway?
posted by Anonymous Mike at 7:00 PM