Forget Blago For Now, Let's Move On

Hot Air has the Obama Blago-Rahma release. If I thought Obama or Emmanuel were guilty in some sense I'd strike a different tone. But even then, I have confidence in Patrick Fitzgerald to do his job. Were Rahm guilty of something he'd have fallen on his sword as "not wanting to be a distraction" without admitting guilt. His power base is still the House, not as Chief of Staff for a President that isn't yet sworn in.

To that end, with Bush being a lame duck, if for no other reason, there is a lacking as regards executive leadership for America right now. We need that, even if it's necessary to oppose him on policy at every turn.

It's in the best interests of the country to get our President-elect, such as he is, sworn in and not start out in office under an unnecessary cloud. If a cloud becomes required I'll be happy to help stir it up. But the facts don't support that for now.

These are far from ideal times and any new President is going to have a huge amount on his plate. A distraction, especially if unwarranted, is not a helpful thing. Country First should mean just that. Invoking it solely in the name of partisanship is no virtue, it's a vice.

I supported the relevant RNC ad when released and haven't changed my mind on that. But we've moved down the road a ways, let's keep moving on.

Comments

[IslamoLlama]

"-- If I thought Obama or Emmanuel were guilty in some sense I'd strike a different tone. But even then, I have confidence in Patrick Fitzgerald to do his job. Were Rahm guilty of something he'd have fallen on his sword as "not wanting to be a distraction" without admitting guilt. His power base is still the House, not as Chief of Staff for a President that isn't yet sworn in. --"

Hahahaha! That's fantastic.
Weeks of hyperventilating over "Did Obama get involved?" "Is Rahm guilty?" "Cover up? Scandal? Imminent Impeachment?!" and its all over because you can't find a way to pin it on the incoming President-elect.

Here's a quick thought to mull over. Illinois needs to select a new Governor relatively soon, and a new Senator wouldn't hurt either. Perhaps you could give some regard to the actual politics rather than the witch hunt crusades you continuously embark upon.

Are there any aspiring Gubernatoral candidates Dan likes to fill the seat? Any impressive judges or DAs in the Chicago area he supports to help 'clean things up'? Maybe a new set of policies or reforms that could be implemented to discourage this kind of thing in the future (abolishing appointed Senate positions has been kicked around since before the scandal broke).

Or we could just "move on" and forget this whole torrid affair because it doesn't give us the opportunity to take jabs at a legitimate unblemished candidate. :-p

That's priorities for you.

[Dan Riehl]

Hey, Moron - Since when have I been concerned about Ill. politics, except on the broader theme of corruption and how bad that is for government as a whole?

And you'd know I haven't exactly been banging the drum for impeachment around here if your head wasn't planted so far up your dumb ass.

[mark l.]

"Weeks of hyperventilating over "Did Obama get involved?" "Is Rahm guilty?" "Cover up? Scandal? Imminent Impeachment?!" and its all over because you can't find a way to pin it on the incoming President-elect."

1972-richard nixon wins the wh, by 23%(60-37), and 503 electoral votes.

"On October 10, 1973, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned amid charges of bribery, tax evasion and money laundering." (wiki)

Nixon resigns in August 1974.

Does this all mean that obama will follow suit? He just was questioned by the special prosecutor...

one wonders how he would describe his relationship with rezko.

[M. Simon]

We have just two kids of politicians in Illinois:

Crooks.

Those who haven't been caught.

In Illinois we have an iron clad rule that tells us "independents" who to vote for in order to get honest government. Is the candidate on the ballot? The candidate is a crook.

There are other rules, but no point in bothering you out of state rubes with them and spoiling your illusions.

[SacTownMan]

Lame-O really is a tool!

[richard mcenroe]

Of course Rahm would have fallen on his sword. You know, the guy who just went to AFRICA in the middle of the Administration change-over the CHIEF OF STAFF is supposed to run...

[USpace]

.
I wonder if Shot Rod will plead not guilty by reason of insanity. Poor little Rahmbo. Not too good for the Obamassiah either.
.
absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
coddle poor politicians

always let them get their way
they should not be role models

.
absurd thought -
God of the Universe loves
a culture of corruption

but likes the Democrats' best
give them the most leeway

.
absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
corruption is OK

as long as scoundrels mean well
and strive for Utopia
.
All real freedom starts with freedom of speech. Without freedom of speech there can be no real freedom.
.
http://libertarian.to
.
http://haltterrorism.com
.
http://lulu.com/USpace

:)
.

[ET]

I agree, Dan...time to move on. We conservatives must indeed root for Obama, 'cause we need leadership now more than ever. I am encouraged by Barry's abandonment of the stupid, insincere positions he took on Iraq, but unhappy that he continues to support the myth of global warming...er...man-made climate change.

I am watching the transition closely. I am impressed by Bush's handling of the change-over, and hopeful that Obama values his legacy over partisan cronyism. The Blago adventure merely serves to explode the myth that Barry was ever above it all. You can't come up in that political culture and be as pure as he self-reports to be in two autobiographies and two long years of campaign posturing. Only fools like jharp fell for that bs, and now their hopes and dreams are in tatters.

In fact, Barry was not and is not for change...he offers no magical "hope" for a brighter future. He is just another narcissistic politician looking out for number one. I have set my expectations accordingly. I suspect there will be more allegations of shady dealing and investigations in the coming four years. But I hope not, for America's sake.

[richard mcenroe]

Um... Dan, lame duck or not, until Obie puts his hand on that Bible in January, he leads exactly JACK except for his own transition team... which he apparently can't do very well...

[Dan Riehl]

Well, Richard, they sure blew this one PR wise, if nothing else. And if it remains amateur hour, we're in for it, to be sure. Don't mistake simply wanting to get to substantive fights for surrendering in any shape or form.

[John]

Reality: this is a non event which conservatives are getting all excited about and the media having nothing else to talk about are trying to puff up into something significant. It's in about the same league as the Warren nonsense that is getting Kos devotees panties in a twist. Meanwhile Obama quietly goes about putting his administration together to universal applause from official circles and the general public who have his approvals in the mid seventies. You have to wonder whether a lot of the posters actually read these polls or are they still saying they are cooked up by the media as they were about the polls predicting Obama's electoral victory. The sneering, dismissive tone and errors of judgement in most of them are a measure of the extent to which way too many conservatives are totally out of touch with reality. The public love this guy and wish him well. They agree with most of what he proposes to do. He hasn't blown anything PR wise with his handling of this, on the contrary he skilfully deflected any blame, got a endorsement from Fitzgerald and dumped the news on christmas eve. It must be apparent to even the most blind partisan that we are up against one of the most talented politicians to emerge on the scene in many a long day. He's better than Clinton and that's saying something. I don't know what the solution is to dealing with this but I do know conservatives and the GOP are going to do themselves no favors with silly attempts to smear this guy or obstruction which just makes us look a bit loopy basically. I'd say one of the first thing conservatives need to do is dump this obsession with deluding ourselves about reality. Republicans used to be the realists now we've become the fantasists.

[IslamoLlama]

"-- Hey, Moron - Since when have I been concerned about Ill. politics, except on the broader theme of corruption and how bad that is for government as a whole? --"

Haha. You haven't been interested in "the broader theme of corruption". You've been interested in Sexy Democrat Scandals!!! and how they tie into your ongoing narrative of how much you hate the party for things you're not sure they've actually done.

You valiantly defended Scooter Libby when he threw himself on his sword over the Plame leak. You staunchly proclaimed the Iraq War was glorious and just even when $9 billion in hard currency vanished in the country and tens of billions more floated off to corporate contractors inable or unwilling to do the jobs they were paid for. Domestically, you were happy to defend DeLay, Cunningham, Ney, Stevens, Vitter, and the rest of the GOP Congressional criminals and never had a word against FEMA's disastrous mismanagement except to proclaim it was everyone's fault but Bush's.

And now, in the heat of a Democratic Scandal you can actually, legitimately sink your teeth into, you focus every ounce of editorial fire on a guy who couldn't be farther removed from the scandal.

You don't give two shits about corruption. Blagojevich doesn't bother you one iota and if he wasn't from Illinois his scandal would have been luck to break on the page at all. This has been all one circus show to tar Obama as being guilty of party affiliation, which is apparently a bigger crime than even the open auctioning of a US Senate Seat.

This is the most obscene and insulting mockery of concern I've read yet - and as a frequent board resident, I've read a few. What a petty, short-sighted whiny little rat you've become, Dan. In an actual, legitimate hard-noes scandal I was hoping to see something constructive fall out of you. Swing and a miss.

[Dan Riehl]

Islamo - have some eggnog, a hot toddy or something. You sound more unhinged than usual. Or is it that you've already had too much of one of the above? In that case, try coffee.

[mark l.]

"Haha. You haven't been interested in "the broader theme of corruption". You've been interested in Sexy Democrat Scandals!!! and how they tie into your ongoing narrative of how much you hate the party for things you're not sure they've actually done."

wasn't this the theme when the dems tried to tie Ken Lay to George Bush?

All that is happening now is that the water is filling up the back of the toilet. The flush isn't going to happen for several months. Forgive the speculation on which turd gets ejected from the bowl. I'm sure obama will still be able to 'cling' to his presidency, but a few smaller turds are going down.

the general curiousity of Rezko's sentencing delay , in light of the fact that he was in jail during the Senate auction, would seem to suggest that the investigation appears to be ongoing. Don't panic. Rezko probably bundled cash for political favors from Blago, exclusively.

No one else in Illinois(chicago) received special benefits for legistlation. Nothing to see...move along...

[SpaceCat]

Latest CNN poll shows 82% (!!) approve of Obama's transition. Read it and weep, wingnuts.

"Presidents usually start to lose support once they assume office and start making the tough decisions. But with eight in ten currently approving of Obama, he can give away 20 or 30 points, estimates Holland, and still have a majority of the country on his side."

Merry Christmas!

[IslamoLlama]

"-- You sound more unhinged than usual. Or is it that you've already had too much of one of the above? In that case, try coffee. --"

Hey, get back to the Natalie Holloway stories if you can't handle the heat, Dan. At least if you stick to commenting on stuff no one cares about less people notice how full of shit you are.

[jason s.]

"It's in the best interests of the country to get our President-elect, such as he is, sworn in and not start out in office under an unnecessary cloud."

Maybe it's unnecessary, but the Democrats brought it on themselves with their Chicago cesspool politics that Obama, Rahm, Daley and Blago come from. I beg to differ, but it's not in the best interest of the country to get behind anybody with the type of issues that surround Obama, such as his illegal campaign financing, his dealings with Rezko, the Annenberg Foundation funds, and Blago, among others. Your lack of interest in pursuing these matters in favor of the prevailing Kool-aid feel good BS sold by the MSM is quite disgusting.

" But with eight in ten currently approving of Obama, "

Easy on the Koolaid SpaceCat, approving of the transition is not approving of Obama. Obama's favorable/unfavorable is 57-40, pretty good, but not even close to 80%. And it could change pretty quickly as we all know.

[irongrampa]

Welcome to your first case of ODS.
This person can be YOUR President, he'll never be mine.
As always, I'll respect the OFFICE of the Presidency, but in this case, never the man.

And it matters not a whit who that offends or amuses.

[Solo]

QUOTE: "This person can be YOUR President, he'll never be mine."

Word.