Okay, Enough Automaker Talk For Now…
…there ARE other things going on in the world, after all.
I don’t for one minute think that Barack Obama is in any kind of legal jeopardy regarding discussions with disgraced Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, but there is the definite stink of a whitewash regarding contact between the governor and Obama’s Chief of Staff. The big headline is that Obama, investigating his own staff (ahem – fox guarding the hen house, anyone?), will conclude that Rahm Emanuel had ‘only one’ phone call with Blagojevich in which the Senate seat was discussed in passing, and no doubt that is true. However, that was far from the only contact:
…[T]he report will show Emanuel also had four phone calls with Blagojevich Chief of Staff John Harris. During those conversations, the Senate seat was discussed. The pros and cons of various candidates were reviewed, and the sources say that Emanuel repeatedly reminded Harris that Blagojevich should focus on the message the pick would send about the governor and his administration.
Sources also confirm that Emanuel made the case for picking Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett during at least one of the conversations. In the course of that conversation, Harris asked if in return for picking Jarrett, “all we get is appreciation, right?” “Right,” Emanuel responded.
Four calls with the governor’s Chief of Staff is far from inconsequential. Now, the irony here is that Obama has appeared so evasive on an issue that actually puts him in a very good light – after all, it is clear that Blago wanted to engage in a blatant selling of the Senate seat, and it is also clear that Obama and his team weren’t biting…but Obama needs to learn a lesson in transparency if he is going to live up to his campaign hype on the subject.
Rather than this elaborate song and dance, imagine how much easier it would have been to say right from the beginning that “Yes, my Chief of Staff discussed the Senate seat with his Chief of Staff, including candidates that we thought would make a good fit. However, we discussed these issues broadly in a spirit of weighing the pros and cons, and at no point did we entertain any kind of quid pro quo. The Senate seat belongs to the people, not to myelf or the governor.”
It’s not that hard, really – I continue to be amazed at the extremely poor job highly paid professional handlers routinely do. The best policy, always, is to get in the front of the story, rather than be caught chasing it and looking guilty in the bargain…
I’m with you on this one Mark, the truth would be so much less controversial and would attract so much less negative attention. I don’t get it. By being vague and misleading, not to mention the silly self-investigation, they are fomenting suspicion that something untoward was afoot.
Bizarre.
Mark: There is nothing any politician can do to “learn a lesson in transparency”, especially when the prosecuting attorney ties your hands. “There can be no comments on an ongoing investigation”. Fitzmas indeed.
http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh122208.shtml
“There was no inappropriate contact” isn’t good enough.
You miss the sex, don’t you, Mark? You long for the days of scandal that is only tangential to doing one’s job or someone else who was being a fool not even close to your administration. Whereas, someone like Bush just gets free pass after free pass after people in his own organization do his bidding and continue to turn this country in the wrong direction. But, you know, he’s been a successful president and all. And, meanwhile, when Scotty Mac answered the same way, time after time, nary a peep. Infact, this whole line of questioning could have been avoided if only Bush would have come out and just said “Yes, the Vice President discussed Valerie Plame with Scooter Libby but there was no nefarious activity involved. He did not order Libby to out her.” The whole nation would have just taken than at face value. Riiiiiiight.
I guess the real point is that you can’t trust any president. Or president-elect. This will either go away or it won’t. Either way, I’m living the good life right now. Christmas is this week and that means I get a break from work. Hooray.
Well, Mike, that’s about the lamest excuse I ever heard. Fitzgerald kept him from commenting because the investigation was ongoing? The investigation is STILL ongoing, and he just issued a report. Guess Fitzgerald can only boss around the President-Elect when it is convenient for the President-Elect…
Mark: He asked him to wait to comment until a specific date. It’s called “cooperating with the investigation”. Face it, you sound like a Nutroot®…
I see…the investigation is wrapped up now, is it? It’s okay to comment?
I don’t buy it…
“The best policy, always, is to get in the front of the story, rather than be caught chasing it and looking guilty in the bargain…”
That’s something I don’t buy, so to each their own. What “bargain” are you talking about in this case?
People will ALWAYS disagree with how you handle a potential scandal. In the eyes of the media a “potential scandal” IS a scandal. Which is about the worst way I can imagine to discuss the current state of affairs in the nation. You feed right into it, Mark.
Plus, if he HAD said what you said he should have said and it turns out Rahm lied to Obama’s face, then who looks stupid, Mark? Please, you KNOW how that would turn out.
If there is even the remotest possibility that Rahm is lying to him, he sure as hell doesn’t need to be his chief of staff…
Mark: You cannot trust politicians. It’s just not prudent. Fool me once…shame on society…etc. Whatever, though. I always prefer to cover my own ass. You never really KNOW someone. I don’t want the president trusting any of his closest advisors. Art of War, foo.