Posted by
Mike Bates on Friday, December 12, 2008 11:17:52 AM
Several mainstream media accounts suggest that about the only thing
Barack Obama and Rod Blagojevich have in common is they both live in
Illinois. Today at the Washington Post's Web site, for example, we
learn that
"Obama Worked to Distance Self From Blagojevich Early On."
The article begins by noting that the Illinois governor, unlike other
major state Democratic politicians, wasn't allowed to address this
year's national convention. There was at least one good reason for
that, although it wasn't covered by today's Washington Post.
Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times explained it last August:
The Obama campaign on Tuesday afternoon released more
speakers for the second night of the Democratic convention in Denver, a
batch of Democratic governors. Missing from the list: the first
governor to back Obama, his homestate Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Blagojevich, who threw a heck of a party in Boston in 2004, has had no
profile in the Obama campaign because of the scandals surrounding his
administration, notably the Tony Rezko probe.
Because of Rezko, I never, ever expected Blagojevich to be tapped to speak.
Moreover, Blagojevich has for some time been quite unpopular. As Rasmussen Reports noted earlier this week after Blagojevich's arrest:
While this news will certainly further tarnish the
governor’s reputation, Rasmussen Reports tracking in the state
consistently has shown the Democrat to be one of the nation's most
unpopular governors, if not the most unpopular.
Given that, it's little wonder Obama didn't want Blagojevich at the
convention endorsing his candidacy. Especially since Obama - far from
distancing himself early on - played a key role in electing the now
disgraced governor.
Last July, Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker wrote of Obama in 2002:
That year, he gained his first high-level experience in
a statewide campaign when he advised the victorious gubernatorial
candidate Rod Blagojevich, another politician with a funny name and a
message of reform. Rahm Emanuel, a congressman from Chicago and a
friend of Obama’s, told me that he, Obama, David Wilhelm, who was
Blagojevich’s campaign co-chair, and another Blagojevich aide were the
top strategists of Blagojevich’s victory. He and Obama “participated in
a small group that met weekly when Rod was running for governor,”
Emanuel said. “We basically laid out the general election, Barack and I
and these two.”
In June of 2002, Obama said on a local-access program: " …right now, my main focus is to make sure that we elect Rod Blagojevich as Governor. . ."
The talk of scandals and Federal investigations of Blagojevich didn't diminish Obama's enthusiasm for his re-election in 2006. Chicago ABC 7 reporter Andy Shaw reported on August 16:
"We've got a governor in Rod Blagojevich who has
delivered consistently on behalf of the people of Illinois and for that
reason I am proud to stand behind him," said Senator Barack Obama.
If Obama were trying to keep his distance from Blagojevich, he did
it in a most peculiar way. Or, as they admiringly say in Democratic
precincts, perhaps he did it "the Chicago way."