rssObama Pledges Details on Staff Meetings with Governor’s Office
Thursday, December 11, 2008 at 12:25 pm
- 2 Comments
During a press conference this morning in Chicago, ostensibly to officially name former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) as President-elect Barack Obama’s pick for secretary of health and human services and director of the White House office of health reform, Obama found himself talking mostly about the scandal surrounding Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
When asked by a reporter why he did not personally call for Blagojevich to step down, a move Obama’s staff yesterday said he supports, Obama criticized the “tradition where people view politics as a business,” before saying he hopes the governor will resign.
I do not think that the governor, at this point, can effectively serve the people of Illinois. The legislature is going down to Springfield to make a determination as to how to resolve this issue. I think they’re going to come to the same conclusion. I hope that the governor himself comes to the conclusion that he can no longer effectively serve, and he does resign.
Obama reaffirmed that he had not spoken to Blagojevich about the appointment to fill his vacated Senate seat and pledged to provide details of all contact his transition staff had with Blagojevich’s office in the coming days.
I had no contact with the governor’s office. I did not speak to the governor about these issues, that I know for certain. What I want to do is to gather all the facts about any staff contacts that may have taken place between the transition office and the governor’s office, and we’ll have those in the next few days and we’ll present them. But what I’m absolutely certain about is that our office had no involvement in any deal-making around my Senate seat. That, I’m absolutely certain of, and that would be a violation of everything this campaign has been about. That’s not how we do business.
Obama also said he has not been contacted by federal investigators on the matter.
While Obama addressed the issue more forcefully than he has to date, chattering about “What did Obama know?” which is already mostly limited to Republican circles and the conservative blogosphere, will likely persist at least until the transition releases information about any meetings with the governor’s staff.
2 Comments
Comment posted December 11, 2008 @ 12:20 pm
How about all of the details of all of the contacts? If anyone gets caught, Obama can be appalled, disappointed, and serve them up to the lions.
You get in power in Chicago by making deals and Chicagoans love a guy who fights. The press asked old man Daley if he awarded his son, the current Mayor, the multi-million dollar insurance contract at O'Hare on a no bid basis. Daley replied, “Yeah! He's my son. What would you do?” That was a good enough answer for everyone. They may not have liked it, but they understood. Everything is pretty much the same these days unless you step on the wrong toes. Chicagoans will be shaking their heads in bars for a long time wondering and theorizing about who the Governor made mad. There will occasionally be a few punches thrown. No one will go to jail. It's all good fun.
What is the difference between what Blagojevich did and Congress and the Senate members taking donations from the banks to pass the bank bailout against 90% of the taxpayer's wishes? What is the difference between this and Obama making campaign promises to the Unions to get their support and campaign donations? What is the difference between this and Shelby, having foreign car manufacturers in his state and taking their campaign donation and then trying to get the domestic automaker loans defeated? What is the difference between what Blagojevich did and everyone running for any electable office and taking money from special interest to work on their behalf? At least Blagojevich was open and honest about what he was doing. Your Kleptocracy teaches your politicians to behave like this. It's just business as usual. The FBI should be tracking every campaign donation and every legislative vote.
Your federal government is suppose to support and protect you, not the banks, businesses, and other special interests. You should be voting for people who don't take special interest money. There are very few of them, but they should be in office.
http://ewebsmith.com/gov/JFKWarning.html
Comment posted December 11, 2008 @ 8:20 pm
How about all of the details of all of the contacts? If anyone gets caught, Obama can be appalled, disappointed, and serve them up to the lions.
You get in power in Chicago by making deals and Chicagoans love a guy who fights. The press asked old man Daley if he awarded his son, the current Mayor, the multi-million dollar insurance contract at O'Hare on a no bid basis. Daley replied, “Yeah! He's my son. What would you do?” That was a good enough answer for everyone. They may not have liked it, but they understood. Everything is pretty much the same these days unless you step on the wrong toes. Chicagoans will be shaking their heads in bars for a long time wondering and theorizing about who the Governor made mad. There will occasionally be a few punches thrown. No one will go to jail. It's all good fun.
What is the difference between what Blagojevich did and Congress and the Senate members taking donations from the banks to pass the bank bailout against 90% of the taxpayer's wishes? What is the difference between this and Obama making campaign promises to the Unions to get their support and campaign donations? What is the difference between this and Shelby, having foreign car manufacturers in his state and taking their campaign donation and then trying to get the domestic automaker loans defeated? What is the difference between what Blagojevich did and everyone running for any electable office and taking money from special interest to work on their behalf? At least Blagojevich was open and honest about what he was doing. Your Kleptocracy teaches your politicians to behave like this. It's just business as usual. The FBI should be tracking every campaign donation and every legislative vote.
Your federal government is suppose to support and protect you, not the banks, businesses, and other special interests. You should be voting for people who don't take special interest money. There are very few of them, but they should be in office.
http://ewebsmith.com/gov/JFKWarning.html
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