Just watched Blago’s press conference—that is Rod Blagojevich, the governor of Illinois impeached by the Illinois legislature earlier today—and this flare-up in the battle of corrupt politicians is like watching ants work around an obstacle. It’s shaping up as David versus Goliath—with Blago showing how politically vulnerable the mighty Obama actually is.
The President-elect, pledging the prospect of massive government control of the United States economy, has his hands all over Blago’s impeachment saga. From the moment his presidential election was imminent, Obama spurned the tainted Democratic governor, which clearly sent sensitive Blago into a tizzy, as he was determined to retaliate by selling Obama’s Senate seat to the highest bidder of his own choosing.
Nabbed, though not indicted, by the feds for corruption, Blago was probably doing what every politician does, and that’s being generous. Having refused to resign and stared down the Democratic Party establishment—specifically the nation’s new president, who had openly opposed the appointment of Roland Burris to the vacant Senate seat—Blago is making, and scoring, a point. Quoting Ted Kennedy quoting Tennyson, Blago stood firm and vowed to fight impeachment, which now goes to the Illinois Senate for trial.
Citing his working class background, with welfare-state recipients in tow, he righteously asserted his welfare-statist credentials as circumstantial evidence of his innocence. This is not intended as a rationalization for wrongdoing, but Blago is acting like he knows that everyone in politics—Jesse Jackson, Jr., Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama—does what he did. For now, he’s beating the punditry, the press and the politicians at their own game—Roland Burris will be seated as Obama’s successor in the U.S. Senate—and the result is an Obamadrama between the funny-named Illinois pol and the Ivy League president-elect that overshadows the new administration—and serves as some sort of lesson for navigating the Obama presidency.
