A Political Nightmare

I couldn't think of a bigger political mess than what has just been unraveled in Illinois.

You have a sitting Governor who has been indicted for, among many other things, auctioning off the United States Senate seat that is being vacated by Barack Obama. Out on bail, this guy "still" has the power to appoint an interim Senator to replace Barack Obama (See Full Story). If he does replace Barack with anyone, whoever does get that Senate seat will have a black cloud over his/her head because everyone will think that person got the job because they were in the bidding for it. On top of that, there are several unnamed "candidates" in the indictment that may or may not have been bidders for that Senate seat and complicit with the Governor's demands for "play for pay" on that Senate seat. These probably are all top politicians in Illinois who could wind up being indicted also. Further, the supposed friend of Barack Obama, Tony Rezko, is also named in this indictment. To top that, Barack Obama's name is referenced over 40 times in those legal papers that were filed yesterday; although there is no indication of any guilt in making those references.

As I said yesterday, this is Chicago/Illinois political corruption at its height. Normally, these kinds of things aren't so tragically exposed to public scrutiny. Typically, it's a bunch of backdoor deals that never see the light of day. Now, a whole mess of people, besides Governor Blagojevich (a.k.a. "Blago"), are bound to be indicted. Could those indictments include people who are either close to Barack Obama or, even, in his new Administration? Who knows? Only, time will tell. However, don't forget, Obama had to be knee deep in Illinois politics to get where he's at today. I just think that it was interesting that the man of so many words, Barack Obama, was somewhat at a loss for words yesterday when he denounced involvement with Blago.

I think you can be assured that this mess will somewhat tarnish Barack Obama's way into office; even if he had nothing to do with it. Further, this will just enhance the public's belief that there is nothing but corruption in politics. Lastly, it seems to be another big blow to Nancy Pelosi's 2006 election campaign slogan that tagged Republicans as being the only corruption in politics. The Democrats, from William Jefferson to this one, are working hard to take that moniker away from the Republicans. Isn't politics fun!