Governor Blagojevich

Gov. Blagojevich was caught offering to trade a decision for a reward, personal or political.  This is widely understood to be disgraceful and illegal.

But is it really so unusual?  How does what Gov. Blagojevich did differ from the (bipartisan) extortion that is considered routine in Congress?  Blagojevich sought $1 million; Congressional bribes cost billions.

House Democratic leaders are offering billions in federal funds for lawmakers' pet projects large and small to secure enough votes this week to pass an Iraq funding bill that would end the war next year. ... To get them off the fence and on the bill, Democrats have a key weapon at their disposal: cold, hard cash.  The bill contains billions...

Perhaps one might argue that Blagojevich sought personal benefit when he demanded campaign contributions in exchange for his vote.  Perhaps.  But earmarks are little more than incumbent slush funds - a de facto campaign contribution, paid for by US taxpayers.  The effect is the same. (we are leaving aside, for the moment, the also-vexing issue of vote-trading)

The legislative bribery works two ways.

1. Pork buys votes for the basic legislation (as described above), or...
2. Legislation is leverage to get votes for otherwise unacceptable pork.  After all, you can't vote against funding a spinach farm without voting against funding the troops; and you can't vote to fund the troops without voting for a few billion dollars worth of pork.  Whatever the legislative rationale for these omnibus bills, they amount to extortion.

Yes, Gov. Blagojevich is a disgrace.  But Gov. Blagojevich merely did what our US Congress does as a matter of routine.

http://theinvisiblehand.typepad.com

Nearly a year ago on December 27, 2007, Barack Obama delivered a speech in Des Moines, Iowa, that has been called "OUR MOMENT IS NOW", in that speech Obama emphasized a NEW KIND OF POLITICS:

I chose to run because I believed that the size of these challenges had outgrown the capacity of our broken and divided politics to solve them; because I believed that Americans of every political stripe were hungry for a new kind of politics, a politics that focused not just on how to win but why we should, a politics that focused on those values and ideals that we held in common as Americans; a politics that favored common sense over ideology, straight talk over spin.

The American Public is starting to get a glimpse of the New Kind of Politics with the arrest of the Illinois Gov. Blagojevich. Yesterday, during a press conference with Al Gore, President-elect denied having any contact with the Illinois Governor in regard to his vacant Senate seat. OBAMA: I HAVE HAD NO CONTACT WIth ILLINOIS GOVERNOR VIDEO.

Asked what contact he'd had with the governor's office about his replacement in the Senate, President-elect Obama today said "I had no contact with the governor or his office and so we were not, I was not aware of what was happening."

However, on November 5, 2008, Barack Obama met with Governor Blagojevich in the afternoon to discuss the upcoming vacant Illinois Senate Seat. READ FULL STORY

Also, on November 23, 2008, his senior adviser David Axelrod appeared on Fox News Chicago and said that, while insisting that the President-elect had not expressed a favorite to replace him, and his inclination was to avoid being a "kingmaker," Axelrod said, "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."

Now the Obama's transition team is denying that the discussion with Obama and the Governor ever took place. Axelrod even issued a statement last night saying:

"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."

At this point there are no allegations that Barack Obama had anything to do with the alledged crimes of Governor Blagojevich. But, we are starting to see a pattern with Mr. Obama when he is confronted with a problem, CONCEAL HIDE, and DENY. It all goes back to the question What do we know about Obama? I would love to see his birth certificate, law school records and the list goes on. Now, we have the new kind of politics Illinois style, in fact, when Obama met with Meet the Press and Tom Brokaw this past weekend. Mr. Brokaw asked Obama about Hillary Clinton's potential replacement in the US Senate and Obama answered,

"But the last thing I want to do is get involved in New York politics. I've got enough trouble in terms of Illinois politics." FOR TRANSCRIPT CLICK HERE

President-elect talked with the Governor of Illinois and he even told Mr. Brokaw about Illinois Politics. Also, Obama is deeply tied to Governor Blagojevich. Jake Tapper an ABC News' Senior White House Correspondent based in the network's Washington bureau writes about this relationship with Obama and the Illinois Governor in his article,

Questions Arise About the Obama/Blagojevich Relationship

And, it should be pointed out, Mr. Obama has a relationship with Mr. Blagojevich, having not only endorsed Blagojevich in 2002 and 2006, but having served as a top adviser to the Illinois governor in his first 2002 run for the state house.

That 2002 endorsement came at the same time that Axelrod had such serious concerns about whether Blagojevich was ready for governing he refused to work for his one-time client.

According to Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., Mr. Obama's incoming White House chief of staff, Emanuel, then-state senator Obama, a third Blagojevich aide, and Blagojevich's campaign co-chair, David Wilhelm, were the top strategists of Blagojevich's 2002 gubernatorial victory.

Emanuel told the New Yorker earlier this year that he and Obama "participated in a small group that met weekly when Rod was running for governor. We basically laid out the general election, Barack and I and these two."

The Obama relationships continue and what is so amazing, is that, January 20, 2009 is still over a month away, Obama is hoping he can CONCEAL, HIDE, and DENY until he is sworn-in as our 44th President, then his "New Kind of Politics" of CONCEAL, HIDE, and DENY will be easier with EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE.

-LEX REX http://theinvisiblehand.typepad.com