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The Irony of Blagogate is becoming comical. Beyond trying to profit from appointing President-Elect Barrack Obama’s successor in the Senate, Governor Rod Blagojevich seems to be willing to dismantle black politics in Illinois to get away with it. Representative Bobby Rush of Illinois and Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris, obviously willing participants, have decided to play the race card in Governor Rod Blagojevich’s controversial appointment.
The irony of Blagogate is how the Governor’s every move has made the chances of a white replacing the only sitting black Senator much higher. He immediately tainted Illinois Representative, Jesse Jackson, Junior by trying to offer the senate seat for favors or money. Although the U. S. Attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, effectively cleared Jackson of wrong doing in his criminal complaint against Blagojevich, Jackson finds himself smeared by the appearance of impropriety. The irony is deliciously compounded by the fact that his rival, Burris, is being defended by Rush. Rush would seem to be representative of old racial guard to whom Jesse Jackson Senior is most closely identified. Jesse Jackson Junior and Barrack Obama have worked very hard to separate themselves from the old guard.
People like Bobby Rush are not yet interested in relinquishing their control of racial politics to the post racial (whatever that is), crowd like Obama and the younger Jackson. The irony keeps coming in the Blagojevich scandal. Rush who seems to be an advocate for Roland Burris today, refused to endorse Obama in his 2004 Senate campaign in favor of the white candidate Blair Hull.
Besides not getting the memo on a post racial United States, I wonder why Burris and Rush would tie their political boat to the sinking ship that is Blagojevich. By not denouncing any Blagojevich appointment, they have potentially put at risk any black appointment to the position. By Burris allowing himself to be used by Blagojevich, he has helped set up a special election where a white might win. Rush and Burris want us to separate the appointor from the appointee. I wonder why they didn’t separate the appointee from the appointor. By all accounts, Burris is a good man. Why tarnish his image by associating him with a crook forever?
So where do Rush and others really stand? Do they really care about real black representation? They seem to be less interested in putting a black in power and more interested in putting the right kind of black in power. They would like to continue left wing politics of persecution to the detriment of all other considerations. Blagojevich, Burris and Rush all point to the legality of the controversial appointment. Surely they understand how perception is reality in politics. If they don’t, they should ask Jesse Jackson Junior.
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The right wing crowd holds out hope for President-Elect Obama to get the hook on inauguration day. The same whack-jobs that brought you fake birth certificates from the grassy knoll are now calling for full investigation into any communications between anyone associated with the President-Elect and Rod Blagojevich, the governor of Illinois. Do they have any idea how much time it would require of the Obama Transition Team to truthfully answer that question? Of course there were communications. It was Obama’s seat for Pete’s sake. Republicans need to listen to their former nominee, Senator John McCain, when he tells them the Obama people need to be doing something else. People inciting this move toward a Blagogate must also understand they may not get answers to these questions until the trial of U. S. versus Rod R. Blagojevich. In the end, pursuing Blagogate might help set free one of the biggest crooks to ever enter politics and prove to leave the United States vulnerable to a rapidly deteriorating security and economic situation.
Politics seems to be the only thing on the mind of right wing radio and some of the mainstream press. It’s a sort of country last mentality that puts political brinksmanship above all else. Laura Ingraham and even PBS’s Gwen Ifill seem to want a scandal to develop. Ifill asks “what does we mean, what is involvement” of David Axelrod, one of the President-Elect’s closest advisors. Apparently, his statement, “we were not involved,” was not good enough. Laura Ingraham, a right-wing talk radio host, posts on her website:
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I’m not going to say a word to you. I’m going to do this with my children. Don’t do that. I’m a father. I have two kids. I’m not going to do it.”
-Rahm Emanuel, ducking reporters’ Seat-gate questions outside his children’s music performance.
Is she mad because he wants to spend some time with his kids? Last I checked, that would qualify as an example of family values. I’m sure he has worked 24/7 since Obama named him chief of staff. Her website says she is a lawyer. Doesn’t she understand how the Obama Transition Team could torpedo the case against Blagojevich by publicly telling what they knew? Maybe smearing and hobbling the Obama administration trumps seeing Blagojevich go free.
One man who absolutely does not want Blagojevich going free is the U. S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Patrick Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald is the Republican Bush Appointee who made the decision to indict Blagojevich before he could fraudulently appoint someone to Obama’s senate seat. By all accounts, his case is dicey. By moving so soon for indictments, he may not have the smoking gun evidence he needs to put a real political crook in jail. Instead of keeping quiet, his potential witnesses are being asked to lay out his case for Blagojevich’s defense lawyers. Congressman Jessie Jackson, Jr., David Axelrod, Rahm Emanuel and others could all be needed to give testimony in court. Fitzgerald obviously does not believe his witnesses are involved. His public statement tells us they are completely innocent. Can’t the purveyors of Blagogate take Patrick Fitzgerald’s word for it?
One person who seems to have taken Fitzgerald’s at his word is Senator John McCain. McCain appeared on This Week with George Stephanopoulos today for his first interview since the Presidential election. Politics seem to be the last thing on John McCain’s mind. His “country first” mentality leads him down a different path than the right-wingers in his party. Instead of hobbling the new administration, he seems to believe the world is a very dangerous place and Obama’s team need more focus than ever.
Again, I’m not playing Paul Revere, OK? But I am saying that there are enormous challenges throughout the world. We have the situation in Afghanistan. The situation in Iraq is still dangerous. There are efforts by Al Qaida to continue to cause difficulties and launch attacks in different areas of the world. So — the Israeli situation is certainly unsettled, as they go through a new election period of uncertainty. So there is — there’s incredible national security challenges, which mandates — doesn’t argue for but mandates that we all work together as much as possible.
To John McCain, working together doesn’t seem to include blagogate. McCain may feel Blagogate is not only wrong but, dangerous too.