“We’ve reviewed the evidence and declare ourselves exonerated.” Is there nothing that Obama can’t do?
Barack Obama said Monday an internal review has concluded members of his transition team were “not involved in inappropriate discussions” with Rod Blagojevich even as questions swirled over reports his chief of staff gave the Illinois Governor a list of preferred candidates to fill the president-elect’s U.S. Senate seat.
Meanwhile, over at the Chicago Sun Times…
Sneed hears rumbles President-elect Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is reportedly on 21 different taped conversations by the feds — dealing with his boss’ vacant Senate seat!
A lot of chit-chat?
Hot air?
Or trouble?
via
Related – Obama’s “My Pet Goat” moment. If past performance is any indication, expect to see more of these.
trouble. Emanuel was his first appointee and may be his first to resign.
48 hours for the sainted one to decide he was appalled!
What does that mean for the dreaded 3:00 AM emergency call?
If Obama says nothing inappropriate transpired, nothing inappropriate transpired.
End of discussion.
Bush Lied.
Under Related, I really thought the past performance link was going to go to the Russian invasion of Georgia, where Obama first took the “all sides are equally at fault” position, before realizing that Russia was the aggressor.
Good point, Kevin, I’ll add that…
I hope Obama has his teflon suit all pressed and ready to go, because the defecation has definitely hit the rotary air mover.
Is it me, or do these people on the Obama team seem just plain stupid? I mean, if I’m some super duper big White House kahuna, I phone up the fricking -governor- of Illinois state and this guy’s trying to -sell- me a Senate seat, OVER THE PHONE! Like, for money. This is not a normal thing, right?
Isn’t my very next phone call the FBI? Even if only to cover my very own personal butt, never mind the butt of my big cheese boss? Or, Ghu forbid, to defend the integrity of the system?
21 frickin’ phone calls? Moron! These are the people Democrats are putting their faith in? This imbecile could be impeached before he’s even sworn in.
How dumb is Obama. He lies when it is not necessary.
First, he says that he did not speak about who was to replace him. Can anyone believe that Obama or his representatives would not make a suggestion of a replacement when he is going to have to work with the person who takes his seat? Nothing illegal in talking about it. But an obvious lie that he did not
Stuff is slowly leaking out. His staff did not speak about it, and the Chief of Staff may be on the tape 20+ times?
So an internal investigation says they did nothing wrong? How long before a tape is released with something on it that counters that?
This thing is going to take him down.
Death by a thousand cuts.
Be careful of the trap….it may be Blago sought payment and Emmanuel wouldnt trade. The prosecutor himself has said there isnt anything from Obama’s team that is of interest.
We will see in a week, of course I find it interesting that it will be release pretty darn close to Christmas, bets that it gets released Dec 23rd at 5:00 pm.
What is probably there is not illegal, just unseemly, likely including lots of swearing from emmanuel, some tough politics and potentially mention of links to other scandals….this could be why the prosecutor wants a week, to track them all down.
I doubt emmanual was saying anything illegal but I suspect it will be like a guided tour through the hot dog factory, pretty unpleasant to watch.
Another explaination for Obama being so hesitant…..imagine you are Obama, you have appointed Emmanual, knowing he will do the dirty work and you just dont want to know about it…..your first reaction is going to be, “what did he do?” And then you can never really be sure if this guy tells you the complete truth, because thats part of the reason you hired him, to keep you insulated and he knows it.
Emmanual is a brutal pol, effective but I suspect he will have a very short shelf life. Obama will cut him loose sooner or later, he will have to and Emmanual knows it.
Be careful of the trap….it may be Blago sought payment and Emmanuel wouldnt trade.
Yeah, maybe. But it was still incumbent on him to report any offers to the FBI. I doubt Rahm Emanuel did this.
I’m now thinking of him as Obam-uh, uh, uh
“We’ve reviewed the evidence and declare ourselves exonerated.” — Well, just like the many RCMP internal investigations in the last, uhm, 10 years? Funny I don’t seem to recall reading any criticism of those decisions here.
Having read various related media stories on Chicago politics from City Hall and up I am left with the impression that in order to succeed as a politician in winning a campaign at any level, you have to have the seal of approval from the political bunch that runs Chicago as a personal enterprise.
To get in requires the selling of one’s soul by doing something for somebody that would be considered unscrupulous.
Obama succeeded very well in Chicago. I am thus left with the impression that Big O must be up to it at least his ankles if not much deeper
While Emmanuel might have only been talking to Blago et al having a vested interest on behalf of his boss (looking for somebody that O can work with), doing so in the manner it appears to have happened confirms at a minimum how Chicago pols operate.
So you would figure that O would be politically astute and instruct his main man to not touch the situation with the long pole. Instead he’s in there up to his eyeballs. So what does that tell you? O is operating with an attitude of impunity that is displayed by most of the Chicago pols. So if it stinks in Chicago…….
O will probably cut Emmanuel loose as he has others in the past when it doesn’t work to his best interests, which you can’t hold against him. Survival of the fittest.
How many conversations does it take to say you aren’t prepared to get involved in any dealmaking. One? Okay, two or three because the bonehead on the other end of the line won’t take no for an answer. What’s with 21 phone calls?
The thing that makes Obama’s people innocent is that they’re Obama’s people.
Nothing to see here folks, move along.
The media won’t need to be asking many tough questions. You know, like “how can we blame this on Bush” and “what is Rove’s involvement” and “did Hitlerburton profit?” If the answer doesn’t suit them, it ain’t news.
This is going to be a spectacle of pure cutthroat power (Emmanuel) vs. the law (Fitzgerald). I fear that Obama will cut out the legs of Fitzgerald before not too long.
Incidentally, I think you all will find this related video amusing, starting at 3:02: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd5np_F3Hfw
“Some Americans have been fooled by Obama, but not all!”
Maybe Bush should give Obama a pardon before the swearing in ceremony!
Posted by: Ghost of Ed at December 16, 2008 10:55 AM
“48 hours for the sainted one to decide he was appalled!
What does that mean for the dreaded 3:00 AM emergency call?”
That’s what voice-mail is for:
Reporter: “President Obama, a terrorist bomb went off in downtown Chicago at 2:30 AM two days ago. You have yet to respond. Didn’t you get a phone call about that?”
President Obama: ” Good, God man, the phone was ringing at 3 in the morning. That’s 3 AM in the morning! I just let it roll over to the voice-mail.”
Reporter: “But Sir, haven’t you checked your voice-mail?
President Obama: “I have instructed my staff to check all voice-mail and we will report to you what we have found, once the internal investigation has been completed.”
Reporter: “But Mr. President, meanwhile the people in Chicago are..”
President Obama: “Where?”
His worshipers (including MSM) refer to him as FDR. He is probably closer to Nixon.
The amazing thing to me about Obama is that he’ll involve himself with people he knows are under active police investigation as was the case with both Rezko and Blago.
Didn’t it ever occur to him how bad the land deal would look? Doesn’t he understand that wiretaps are standard operating procedure for the Feds and that having any phone contact is inadvisable? Although I’m not a lawyer, I wouldn’t have needed to hire one to point that out to me.
I just heard that the Approval Rating of the Illinois Governor is at 8%. Isn’t that similar to the popular vote of the NDP?
I read that Emanuel hasn’t been out out of his house lately…Why?
AP Headlines on similar situations but different parties.
“Obama: Probe shows no contact in Illinois gov scandal.”
“Palin Pre-Empts State Report, Clears Self in Probe.”
From Newsbusters.
Hey doolweb,
How about this? List an actual lie by Bush for us.
Doolweb- Who’s your bookie?
Gee, eight years of listening to you guys massage every non-event into a ‘scandal’ for Obama. Sounds fun!
‘Pet Goat’ moment? So you admit, Kate, that Bush sitting paralysed with fear and confusion over a kid’s book during the worst terrorist attack of our lifetimes was an inexcusable dereliction of leadership? Not to mention a pathetic example of his lack of fortitude…
And you compare Obama not denouncing Blago for 48hrs with Bush’s catatonic inaction during the biggest ever murder on US soil. Interesting priorities.
Real, I hate to break it to ya but 8 years ago no one knew who Obama was let alone try to discredit him. I think you have the big Owe mixed up with GWB whom you on the Left spent the last 8 years hounding to the ends of the earth.
Yeah, maybe. But it was still incumbent on him to report any offers to the FBI. I doubt Rahm Emanuel did this.
+++
From a Chicagoan —
Obama has always cut a big, wide circle around Blagojevic. Always. Everybody knows he’s a mobster, everybody in Chicago hates him, everybody has been trying to deal with this crazy bastard. Word is Rahm Emanuel is the one who dropped the dime on him.
You think this is bad? This is just the last couple months – wait until the last couple years are revealed. My Chicago friends have been telling me for a long time the guy is just crazy. LOL – Mugabe might be worse. Might be.