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Not that there's anything wrong with Obama's future chief of staff Rahm Emanuel talking to Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich about the list of contenders for Obama's Senate seat, as Fox Chicago News has reported. In fact, it would have been plum weird if they hadn't talked about it. Still, this is not exactly in keeping with Obama's statement that he'd had "no contact'' with Blago's office, is it? Please no Clintonian "depends what the meaning of contact is'' nonsense. Please remember that thing about how it's the cover-up that'll get you, even if you're covering up very little, or nothing at all. Please just come out and say Rahm talked to him or whatever actually happened and basta. Please do not delay.
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Melinda, Emily, Jack, of course you are all right. Of course Blago’s misbehavior is quite horrifying, and at the same time, not yet proven to be illegal. It's appalling to think that Blago may have perverted the Illinois Senate race and may have implicated Jesse Jr. If this were happening in my state, I would be utterly glum. I am duly chastened. Please accept my apologies at having been so unseemly gleeful about Blago’s comic-novel over-the-top misbehavior. I may be more affected than I realized from the cabin fever that comes with having been alone at home sick for a week (and out of both orange juice and ginger ale!). Or maybe my reaction to the Blago news was just relief—after a week of listening to public radio while drifting in and out of sleep—at getting to hear about something other than world financial apocalypse, something that seems easily punished?
Unlike me, Gail Collins today hit exactly the right note of bemused (and, yes, dismayed) schadenfreude, so let me defer to her. No more laughing from me. And to rehabilitate myself, I promise to post next on something about which I can be serious.
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If Blago is cracking you up, E.J., then there are a lot more laughs in store, because this will not be over any time soon. Was it just coincidence that Obama's friend Valerie Jarrett suddenly said she wasn't interested in the Senate seat on the same day Blago Inc. held a long conference call - with some unnamed party in Washington on the line - detailing what he wanted in return for the seat? If business as usual compromises our best shot at reform and at rewriting the manual before Obama's even sworn in, ain't none of us going to be laughing. Today's question: Did Jesse Jackson, Jr. (aka Candidate 5 for the Senate seat, as laid out in the criminal complaint) really agree to raise $500,000 for Blago in return for the appointment? Unclear, but the Gov. doesn't seem like the sort of guy who would spend 90 minutes just kicking around Junior's hopes and dreams, does he?
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