President-elect Obama's home state governor and fellow Democrat Rod Blagojevich was arrested by the FBI today on charges of political corruption so severe that the prosecutor called it a "political corruption crime spree". Among the crimes with which the governor is charged is trying to garner a profit from his ability to name Mr. Obama's replacement in the U.S. Senate.
The charges are sweeping and the evidence is apparently quite compelling. Governor Blago is accused of everything from trying to arrange a post for himself in exchange for the senate appointment, to conspiring against members of the Chicago Tribune editorial board to get certain of his critics fired, to shaking down state contractors for campaign contributions. And a lot of his wheelings and dealing were caught on tape by the feds.
Now none of this is to say that Obama had anything do to with any of these alleged offenses or that he even knew they were going on. But it is a telling reminder that the Chicago political machine that gave rise to Obama's power base giveth, and it taketh away. It's influence can vault promising young politicians to the very pinnacle of power, but it's greed and corruption can taint the cleanest of souls. After using Chicago luminaries like Ayers, Wright, and Flager to climb from relative obscurity into the light of public awareness, Obama may now have to deal with the unfortunate residue of a dealing with the devils in the Chicago political scene.
Regardless of his actual involvement in these alleged crimes; after benefiting from the "quick" of quick & dirty Chicago politics, Mr. Obama will waste a lot of his first year in office dealing with the "dirty".
Nolanbuck
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