As I listened to the litany of charges against Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich, I kept wondering when I was going to hear the illegal part. Luckily, because the story was running non-stop on every news station, I finally heard someone mention that he was offering to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat for half a million to a million in cash. OK, that’s a no-no. Oh yeah, and he’s got a potty mouth.
But all the political favors he was asking for…that’s illegal? If so, we might as well put bars on every legislative building in this country, especially the Capitol.
Not since Mr. Smith Goes to Washington has the nation been gripped in such naivete about the inner workings of politics.
It seems pretty clear that Obama offered Senator Clinton the Secretary of State position, or something like it, in exchange for her dropping out of the democratic primary. And yet, no one has been charged in that crime. Halliburton and Bechtel, the former companies of Vice President Dick Cheney and former Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld, respectively, got secret no-bid exclusive contracts to profit from the Iraq War, but news stations never ran that story in a 24-hour loop.
So as near as I can figure, Blagoyevich is guilty of saying out loud what should have been communicated with a wink and a nod, or at the very least, in a private room over Scotch, and not on public lines over the telephone.
Watching veteran politicians feign outrage and seasoned journalists act dismayed is ridiculous. And knowing that the American public is lapping it up as quickly as the media can spoon it to us is sickening. But then, the story appeals to Republicans because they finally get to see a Democrat on the hot seat. The story relieves Democrats because Obama is vindicated by the evidence on the tapes. In the end, everybody gets to scorn Blagojevich, and in the balance, feel superior to everyone else.
Bombings are increasing in Iraq, Al Qaeda is regrouping in Afghanistan, Wall Street and world markets are teetering, our nation’s most stalwart industry is on the verge of collapse, and some guy in Illinois is doing what every politician has done since the dawn of civilization.
You tell me what’s news.