As you all have heard, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was taken into Federal custody today on a slew of corruption charges, the most prominent charge being that he tried to sell President Elect Barack Obama's newly opened senate seat.
When asked for comment today, Obama had this to say "Obviously like the rest of the people of Illinois I am saddened and sobered by the news that came out of the US attorney's office today," said President-elect Obama this afternoon in Chicago, speaking of the criminal complaint against Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich for corruption. "But as this is a ongoing investigation involving the governor I don't think it would be appropriate for me to comment on the issue at this time."
And when asked if he had any contact with the Governor about this issue, Obama said "I had no contact with the governor or his office and so we were not, I was not aware of what was happening."
Seems a wee bit confusing because when David Axelrod, Obama's senior adviser, appeared on Fox News on November 23rd, 2008, Axelrod had this to say about Obama's interaction with the Governor " "I know he's talked to the governor and there are a whole range of names many of which have surfaced, and I think he has a fondness for a lot of them."
Today, The Office of The President Elect released a statement saying that Axelrod misspoke on November 23rd. This evening David Axelrod issued a statement of his own. ""I was mistaken when I told an interviewer last month that the President-elect has spoken directly to Governor Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy. They did not then or at any time discuss the subject."
According to Federal Affidavit's, on November 11th, 2008, Blagojevich told an associate that Obama was not going to appoint him to a cabinet position because of the negative press surrounding himself. He then said that he knew Obama had a preference for a specific candidate and that "“they’re not going to give me anything except appreciation. Fuck them."
I'm no Federal Agent, but it would seem to me that if Blagojevich knew Obama had a particular candidate in mind, that there would have to be some kind of contact between them because this was not reported in the press. It would also seem that if Blagojevich knew what that particular candidate was prepared to "offer" him, either Obama offered Blagojevich that information, or Blagojevich had contact with this unnamed candidate, who most likely would relay that information back to the President Elect. Either way, Obama is in up to his knees on this one.
Even more staggering about this Chicago ring of corruption is the fact that Rahm Emmanuel, Obama's newly appointed chief of staff, was also a top advisor of Rod Blagojevich in his gubernatorial race.
But wait! There's more!
You remember the name Tony Rezko right?? That was the guy that sold the family Obama a piece of land at a grossly under priced rate and is now a convicted felon for demanding kickbacks from Chicago politicians for fundraising efforts. Well he is tied into this as well. Rezko raised phenomenal amounts of money for both Blagojevich and Obama. It is known that Obama has already used to his influence to secure a real estate deal for Rezko while he was just a lowly state senator. Rezko was supposedly a right hand man of the corrupt Blagojevich as well.
Obama's defense is, as it always has been, to play it cool and say "Oh wow, Really?? I had no clue that he was such a bad guy! I swear I didn't know anything!". The same defense he used with Ayers, the same defense he used with Reverend Jeremiah Wright and countless others. It makes one wonder, if the President Elect is just one big lying sack, or worse, is he actually stupid and dimwitted enough to have absolutely no idea what kind of corruption is going on right under his nose. If the former is true, we can deal with that. There are legal measures such as impeachment or a recall of the vote. Obama can rot in jail for the rest of his life and that is fine, as long as he stays away from politics. If the later is true, we are in BIG trouble. How can a man that is supposed to be the leader of the free world be so dim and nieve to not see that kind of trouble coming right at him??
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