not sure if we can trust fox news, but they're reporting that rahm gave blago a list of "acceptable" senate candidates (though no quid pro quo was discussed).
The more I think about the stuff with the Senate seat, the more I wonder how much of it was really corrupt and how much is run of the mill political horse-trading. The press openly talked about HRC requiring Barack to raise funds for her as a condition of dropping out of the primaries. And, there's always going to be back and forth on appointments like this. In fact, I heard somewhere (I think on WGN) that there's some doubt about how much of it Blago will end up being indicted on, considering that I don't think any money actually changed hands.
Still, you don't want there to be any ties whatsoever to Blago. Clearly, he did a lot of really illegal things.
i think a lot of it was the normal horse-trading EXCEPT where blago repeatedly asked for personal money/income for he and his family. that is simply not ethical.
also, if rahm did indeed provide such a list obama needs to come clean immediately. it's not unreasonable that he would have an interest in who fills his seat, so why hide it.
I agree with your last point. Everyone knows that the cover-up is worse than the crime. I think that Barack's done a good job of addressing this stuff publicly, but the Rahm situation threatens to undermine him.
I think that ultra-calculated responses will be the most frustrating thing about Barack's administration. They are really, really careful of what gets out and how it does so. I predict that there will be several instances when we're all a little uncomfortable with it.
If in fact Rahm gave a list to G-Rod's people, it was not to appease Blagojevich it was to control him.
Given how out of control he is/was, can anyone take issue with that (well, sure, and they will)?
I do think people will understand -- when Obama explains -- that he was interested in having the best person possible represent the people of Illinois (and blah blah blah), and so a member of his transition team did offer up suggestions, without any quid pro quo whatsoever. That cannot be seen as shady. Hopefully.
4 comments:
Yeah, that's not good.
The more I think about the stuff with the Senate seat, the more I wonder how much of it was really corrupt and how much is run of the mill political horse-trading. The press openly talked about HRC requiring Barack to raise funds for her as a condition of dropping out of the primaries. And, there's always going to be back and forth on appointments like this. In fact, I heard somewhere (I think on WGN) that there's some doubt about how much of it Blago will end up being indicted on, considering that I don't think any money actually changed hands.
Still, you don't want there to be any ties whatsoever to Blago. Clearly, he did a lot of really illegal things.
i think a lot of it was the normal horse-trading EXCEPT where blago repeatedly asked for personal money/income for he and his family. that is simply not ethical.
also, if rahm did indeed provide such a list obama needs to come clean immediately. it's not unreasonable that he would have an interest in who fills his seat, so why hide it.
I agree with your last point. Everyone knows that the cover-up is worse than the crime. I think that Barack's done a good job of addressing this stuff publicly, but the Rahm situation threatens to undermine him.
I think that ultra-calculated responses will be the most frustrating thing about Barack's administration. They are really, really careful of what gets out and how it does so. I predict that there will be several instances when we're all a little uncomfortable with it.
If in fact Rahm gave a list to G-Rod's people, it was not to appease Blagojevich it was to control him.
Given how out of control he is/was, can anyone take issue with that (well, sure, and they will)?
I do think people will understand -- when Obama explains -- that he was interested in having the best person possible represent the people of Illinois (and blah blah blah), and so a member of his transition team did offer up suggestions, without any quid pro quo whatsoever. That cannot be seen as shady. Hopefully.
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