Blago Walks the Walk. 
Long expected, never entirely certain, the pre-dawn FBI arrest of Governor Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff John Harris is a fresh version of an old story about absolute power and Cook County. All that needs be said of what Chicago politics produces as winners and power-brokers is in the fact that Blago was twice elected governor of the state before he stood in front of a Federal judge and heard the charges that will likely end his tenure, freedom, productive life. I have worked to convey since last winter the scale of the corruption in Illinois political gangs. Tony Rezko worked for Blago. Tony Rezko worked for Barack Obama. Did Tony Rezko have two distinct styles, vocabularies, rolodexes, ambitions, points of view? Perhaps, but that is also part of an old story. You lie with dogs, you get fleas. What is freshest about this
tale is that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has now transformed himself completely into a square-jawed, cornpone John Law named Eliot Ness. There have been cynical jokes for some time that Fitzgerald was a throwback of rectitude and the rule of law that went out of fashion with Tom Dewey. The Osama bin Laden indictment in New York a decade ago illustrated his reach. The Rezko indictment in 2006, as part of the so-called Operation Board Games prosecutions, demonstrated Fitzgerald's precision and determination. The chintzy Scooter Liddy prosecution in 06-07 was a sidetrack and confused the image of a man who tilts with dragons not windbags. The Rezko trial and conviction returned Fitzgerald to the center of the tale, and since Rezko started talking there has been the moody music that the Obama team would make Fitzgerald go away as soon as it took control of Justice. There were promises, there were editorials, but no one has been certain that the Obama landslide wouldn't provide the cover needed to promote Fitzgerald out of Chicago. Now that is all moot. The perp walk by Blago today means that Fitzgerald has the TV, the muscle, the mood to go on forever. Untouchable.
Blago Talks the Talk.
Al Capone got collared on a tax beef. Five and dime stuff. Except for the syphilis. Blago just got collared on a graft beef. Dollar store stuff. Except that Blago will soon enough be impeached and removed, long before the trial begins, and all those months the Obama Administration will stir restlessly every time Fitzgerald's name is mentioned. Rezko talked. Everyone talks. Did Rezko say enough to finger Mr. Obama? Nope. Blago will talk. Everyone talks. Will Blago say enough to finger Mr. Obama? Nope. Yet all the while the Untouchables will be chewing the scenery and taking apart the Cook County machine. In the White House, watching, will be Cook County's crowning glory (right with Blago in August 2005). Cool.
Rezko Watch Returns.
My close working confidante "Rezko Watch," these last months in its new clothes of "The Real Barack Obama," has returned with a treat of details about who the numbered and
lettered players are in today's Blago indictment. I like Jesse Jackson Jr., as Candidate 5 just because this will cause the maximum amount of melodrama and confusion in the House Democratic Caucus. It is possible it is instead Emil Jones Jr. (right, behind President Bush and Blago in April 2005 at Springfield), the veteran leader of the Springfield Senate who was Mr. Obama's godfather and coach in the fallow legislative years, 96-2004; and if it is Jones, this too causes messy collateral damage that will lead to more not less White House fretting about, What if Emil talks, too? Everyone likes Valerie Jarret as Candidate 1, and this is juicy too because she is pure Daley machine sophisticated, will never talk, yet now must deal with a rain cloud over her Office of the President head. These are early days. The Obama Administration will not start for another six weeks, and it is already building scenery for an opera worthy of "All the King's Men." We do know the end of the first act: Obama takes the oath of office, and the orchestra frantically signals trouble ahead.
J.B. And you said Rezko would talk...Oh well.
Looks like silence can be bought somehow. Can you say Pardon? I heard Rush say something today to the effect that an offer was discussed that Obama's wife could get Blagojevich's wife a job on a board in exchange for selecting Obama's choice to replace him. May be I misunderstood, but I can't imagine that Obama knew absolutely nothing about any of this. I wonder if Fitz heard Axelrod this past weekend on Fox, and then heard Obama's response today regarding Blagojevich. The problem with teflon candidates is that the more they get away with, the more resistant to attacks they become.
As much as I like Bob Mintzer (Slo-Funk) and Lalo Schifrin, I'd rather hear the Orchestra play Mahler's Adagietto from Symphony #5. At least I'd know it's over...
Some say that that the decline of the Federal government's perceived legitimacy--and what is legitimacy but a matter of perception?--began with both the Viet Nam war and Watergate. Perhaps that oversimplifies the matter, but those twin fiascoes certainly accelerated the process. Then came Clinton's impeachment, the bitterly contested Presidential election of 2000, and the high-level deceptions and manipulations that led us to invade Iraq and curtail liberty at home.
And now, as you say, "Obama takes the oath of office, and the orchestra frantically signals trouble ahead." The loss of legitimacy continues.
For more on how all this will play out, read sociologist Robert Nisbet.
Is the American electorate actually surprised by all this? They wouldn't be if they had been reading this website months ago. The point is, will they care; or will they simply brush it aside and see it as yet another feeble stab by now prostrate Republicans? Once Obama is in office he will have considerable influence and resource to quash any unpleasantness that may arise from Fitzgerald's continuing inquiry. He will not hesitate to use any and all means at his disposal (as Bush consistently failed to do). He will look into the shaving mirror each morning; light a cigarette and smile. After a while, he will whisper softly, "I am POtUS."
With the press corps fawning and spinning tales of Utopian dreams; continuing to attribute any missteps to Bush, our new president should easily slip the gauntlet for at least the next four years. By then, the public will no longer remember what it had been like before Obama’s resplendent reign – only, that it was dark and evil and that it should never happen again.
No, John. I don’t think our new boy wonder will have a problem.
If you go hunting for the king, make sure you kill him, otherwise he'll grow stronger.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out --- especially if these investigations reveal who had both Obama’s U.S. senate primary rival’s and general election rival’s sealed divorce records opened up so that his strong opponents had to withdraw.
For me, the Presidential Pardon question moves away from Bush and Scooter Libby to Obama and his pardon of Blogojevich.
If Blogojevich starts talking, or even threatens to talk, is there a Vince Foster moment in his future?
Vince Foster? More like Jack Ruby... Blagojevich is going to jail.
John,
The only problem I have with this whole thing is why did Fitzgerald not allow the deal for the Senate seat to go down and then bust the whole lot? Did he not want to be in a position of taking down the new President? If so, then a pox on all there houses.
And the press credibility will descend to the muck when it comes out that there is more to the Obama connexion than they were willing or wanting to report. Add this to the continuing issue of our president-elect's birthright fraud (and I fear it will turn out to be much worse than our Constitution ever realized), we will be entering dark times. Once the president-elect gets into the office, then he will unleash the IRS to go after all who dare question his legitimacy and protect (silence) all who can speak to the truth about the real man.
Jim - The only reason this story has legs is because of Obama's proximity to it. Should I perhaps venture to mention my home State of New Jersey? Nah...
I actually deleted the word "king" from my previous comment before submitting (and also "for a nation that has lost its way.") It proves, perhaps, that you and I were thinking along similar lines. It seems that the U.S. electorate has come to find itself much more in tune with the idea of "fiefdom" than with the obligations of "representative government". In the latter one is expected to have at least some degree of fluency in civics, which is considerably more demanding than Pavlov's (dog) principle as pertains to "rolling the dice".
TJ Smith - What has become clear is that our nation's tax policy as well as law enforcement have morphed from their original intent - to fund the government and to keep order - to punishing those who would challenge the actions of our political power brokers. You can be certain that the incoming Obama administration will not hesitate to avail itself of the full measure of these institutional devices under the publicly stated rubric of flawless legitimacy. Welcome the essence of Stalinism!
Blago + Rezko = ? (Another "O"?)
I was surprised at the timing. Mr. Fitzgerald brought down Scooter Libby, and almost got Bush43. Why did he wait until after the election, but before the inauguration?
Could Pat have waited until phone calls were made to P-E Obama or Rahm? Or did he deduce he would never get that close. Or were the calls made and recorded?
Transition teams do not have the luxury of Full legal staff and PR people to screen you from corrupt folks. Good guess Obama knew, but was silent. Corrupt politicos put nothing in writing.
If Obama is smart, he will come clean. Avoid the fate of RM Nixon and Scooter, the coverup did them in. If he lets the story fester, others will have to be sacrificed. The true untouchables are the President-Elect and First Lady-in-waiting.
Like the Clinton Presidency, will the attack machine (move on.org, Huffpo, Carville, etc) be revived? No Drama Obama may not like it, but may need to be on the offensive to survive.
I see a lot of you headed in the same direction that the Bush-bashers took - before Bush was even inaugurated the first time, he already was a "usurper", "illegitimate", "not my President", etc.
I always would say, "Would you please give the guy a chance?" But they never did. There was a core of haters and they just spread like a cancer until 80% of the country ended up hating GWB. And, ended up undermining his power so that when the country most needed it, in September-November 2008, he had none left.
Look, I'm a Libertarian. I really hate taxes, and I really hate big government. Trust me on this one. But, I still want to give Obama a chance, and I do not want to continue lingering in this bitter, bitter punchbowl of partisan hatred in which this country has for too long foundered. Let's do better than this. Let's not accuse Obama of cronyism until we see how he handles Blagojevich. Let's not accuse him of Stalinism until he actually murders however many million innocent people and sends however many more to Gulags.... "Stalinism!" Give me a break. There's only one politico in this country who remotely reminds me of Josef Stalin, and that's Hillary Clinton, and hopefully she's out of our hair for a while.
It's fun to speculate where this will lead. Certain allusions I've heard suggest more to come.
some speculate Fitz went public now before an actual appointment was made to avoid the crazy crap that would then happen.
Clearly this ties BO's hands from dismissing Fitz who they all knew he was snooping around Chicago politics.
The contradiction between BO's statement yesterday and his chief advisor's was stark. That will draw attention.
It is a little dreary to think that a brand new president will come in office with his version of Whitewater. As a partisan, it's great theatre. As a citizen, it is very alarming.
Remember the following name -- it, too will appear before all this is over: Alexi Giannoulias
Charles - the reason Fitzgerald couldn't wait is that the Chicago Tribune publicly reported the wiretaps and Blago responded on tape by backing off getting the $500K from #5.
Lou - The following is a definition of Stalinism (thanks to Wikipedia): "The political regime named after Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union from 1929–1953. It involves a communist state using extensive use of propaganda to establish a personality cult around an absolute dictator to maintain control over the... people..."
No mention of millions murdered or gulags (though we all know these things happened). I agree with you about Hillary; ditto the entire Democrat Party.
I stand corrected; however, I still think it's an exaggeration even with the narrower definition. At least, I hope. Obama doesn't seem like all that bad of a guy from what I've seen so far. Remember that the radicals in his party are already muttering about why he's appointing the usual gang of suspects for his cabinet. To me, that's a good sign!
Herbert Hoover was in Russia before and after the communist take over and was horrified at what they did to people, particularly those that knew how to run things like plants and such. Even some Americans working for the mining companies got sent away before the mines were nationalized.
It seems to me the human race cannot get rid of their feudal mentality. The majority's willingness to remain attached to some authority has left us all in chains. If you want to go to Jersey, think of Torricelli...
The Fitzpatrick should have applied a bit of force on the Tribune company to keep their computers silent on the matter. A little rough stuff never hurt an editor or two.
John was spot on about who Candidate #5 is. So is Jesse Jackson Jr the new William Jefferson? Jesse Sr seems to have trained Jr well. From WSJ's Political Journal:
The Son Almost Rises
One key political casualty in the fallout from the Blagojevich scandal is likely to be Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who yesterday stepped forward to acknowledge he was "Senate Candidate 5" in the federal criminal complaint against Illinois' governor.
According to federal prosecutors, Mr. Blagojevich told allies that a representative of Candidate 5 had approached him on a "pay to play" basis and offered over $1 million in contributions in exchange for appointing Rep. Jackson as the U.S. Senator replacing Barack Obama.
Mr. Jackson said he had nothing to do with any such offer, although his attorney indicated that it was possible someone in Mr. Jackson's orbit had approached the governor without his consent.
Regardless of what ultimately happens legally, Mr. Jackson has now been captured on tape reading carefully from a prepared statement denying his guilt and then refusing to take questions from reporters on the advice of his attorneys -- hardly a launching platform to political greatness.
Mr. Jackson has been angling for a bigger political stage to play on for years, having frequently clashed with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley to the point that he almost challenged him for the office in 2007. Lately, though, the fiery congressman from Chicago's South Side had made peace with the Daley machine and was on track to secure its blessing for a bid for statewide office. At a breakfast held at last fall's Democratic National Convention in Denver, Mr. Jackson effusively hugged Mayor Daley and had to use a tissue to wipe away some tears as he explained the meaning of the reconciliation. "I've been trying to get to know Mayor Daley for 14 years," he told the assembled crowd.
Political reporters interpreted the performance as an obvious attempt to secure Mr. Daley's blessing as the next U.S. Senator from Illinois. It was a good strategy, but it crashed and burned this week as Mr. Jackson was caught up in L'Affaire Blagojevich.
Now, instead of moving to the U.S. Senate, Mr. Jackson faces months of uncertainty as federal prosecutors probe his relationship to the disgraced Illinois governor and the possible indictment of his associates or even himself.
-- John Fund