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Obama must cut all Blago ties By Michael C. Guilmette Jr. Originally published on Dec. 31, 2008, in the Connersville News-Examiner. Each year, Jan. 1 marks a traditional time for change, and 2009 will certainly qualify with the ascension of the candidate of change. But while a new America may be on his mind, Barack Obama is being dogged by a scandal that is attempting to reach its way into his Office of the President-elect.
Blagojevich’s defiance in the face of the investigation reached a new height yesterday when he appointed former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to fill Obama’s seat. However, the words had barely finished echoing when speculation began circling as to whether Burris would even be seated. The Senate Democrat Caucus released a statement yesterday urging Blagojevich not to make the pick, saying “it is unfair to Mr. Burris, it is unfair to the people of Illinois and it will ultimately not stand.” Burris was not in the bidding for the seat. He was nowhere near the scandal. He was elected four times by the people of Illinois. Yet, he is already damaged goods. In essence, anyone the disgraced governor touches turns to poison, no matter how pure they may be. Even though Obama’s people cleared Obama’s people of any wrongdoing, the scandal puts the erstwhile candidate of change in a precarious position. With only 20 days until he takes the reins and institutes his change, Obama needs to make one more change before he places his hand on Abraham Lincoln’s bible — he needs to dump Emanuel. The mere appearance of impropriety involving Emanuel could be enough to stall or even derail Obama’s locomotive of change, since the only credentials he has are his name and his image. The beefcake in chief has only two largely absent years of Senate experience following eight years in the Illinois Senate. His margin of victory against the dull John McCain was unremarkable, and despite the near messianic adulation his supporters are heaping on him right now, they have some very high expectations of him, including withdrawing from Iraq, establishing universal health care and even lowering the seas. Obama himself is setting the bar high. It is obvious he is trying to channel Lincoln by way of Franklin D. Roosevelt with his “Team of Rivals” cabinet and his make-work infrastructure and “green" jobs. At the same time, his detractors are gearing up to oppose him. Conservatives are already crying foul about Obama’s support of the so-called “Employee Free Choice Act,” which they say will give union thugs the ability to coerce and intimidate workers into joining unions by eliminating secret ballots, and the “Freedom of Choice Act,” which they claim would nullify state laws and expand the unfettered murder of unborn children. Putting the pet issues aside, Obama is facing a far larger juggernaut that could consume even the strongest leaders — the tanking economy and the evolving credit crisis — and Obama is not known to be a strong leader. In fact, even his most sycophantic supporters cannot say for certain what kind of leader he will be. Obama has shown some leadership qualities by distancing himself from some of his politically inconvenient associations, such as the unrepentant domestic terrorist and self-proclaimed Marxist William Ayers, the America-hating Rev. Jeremiah Wright and even his own grandmother, so sacking Emanuel would not be unprecedented. Before any more damage can be done by an annoyingly persistent Blagojevich scandal, Obama owes it to the American people to rid himself of the question mark Emanuel brings to his administration before it can add to the question marks Obama himself will bring to the White House. • Guilmette is managing editor of the News-Examiner. He may be contacted at mguilmette@newsexaminer.com. |
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Copyright © 2008, Michael C. Guilmette Jr. |
With the Dec. 9 arrest of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on corruption charges for allegedly trying to sell Obama’s Senate seat to the highest bidder, the soon-to-be president was found to be vulnerable because his chief of staff designee, Rahm Emanuel, is said to have spoken with Blagojevich at least six times regarding the seat. Even though Obama’s transition team cleared Emanuel of inappropriate contact and essentially told the media to back off, the connection could easily become a festering sore for Obama, especially since it appears the U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and the Chicago Tribune pulled the trigger on the story before Blagojevich actually committed a crime.
