Questions often make good friends.
Here's a question asked of Barack Obama yesterday after news his state's governor, Rod Blagojevich, tried to solicit bribes for Mr. Obama's recently vacated senate seat:
On November 23, this is what Barack Obama's topmost advisor, David Axelrod, said on Fox News:
Of course, the question that first comes to the mind of any attentive observer of all this intrigue is not necessarily friendly to those committed to managing the Obama image: Is the president-elect competent to stand this trial?
Seriously. Can it be that Barack Obama, this great leader and political thinker, this man deemed shrewd, brilliant, original and fresh in all things political, has not spoken to the person authorized to appoint the successor to his senate seat? Or is this some sort of cynical joke? Could it really be that the man who is on top of all issues, the most ready man in America, has not once discussed succession with the Illinois governor? Not one time? Are they not long-time political allies?
Alas, I find that I am impaled on the horns of a dilemma: Barack Obama is either lying or he is not very attentive. If he is lying, then he is not a great president-elect. But if he is not lying, then he is not very attentive. And if he is not very attentive, then he is not a great president-elect.
But maybe, instead of creating apparently false dilemmas for myself, I should be asking this thoroughly popular question: Aren't there more urgent issues than character and corruption that we should be addressing?
Again, or so it seems, the corruption that we have learned of this week is, to bootleg Barack Obama's almost epigrammatic and always convenient turn of phrase, "just a distraction."
It might be a tad audacious to hope that Mr. Obama does not throw Rod Blagojevich under the now infamous bus. I suspect that Mr. Blagojevich, who seems just a tiny bit self-interested, might have a lot to share during his deposition. Let's just hope the governor doesn't commit suicide.
Peace.
©2008/Contratimes. All Rights Reserved.
Here's a question asked of Barack Obama yesterday after news his state's governor, Rod Blagojevich, tried to solicit bribes for Mr. Obama's recently vacated senate seat:
"Were you aware at all of what was happening with your senate seat?"Mr. Obama's answer:
"I had no contact with the governor or his office, and so I was not aware of what was happening."Unfortunately for Mr. Obama, his answer only raises more questions, and one of those, no doubt, is what one means by "contact."
On November 23, this is what Barack Obama's topmost advisor, David Axelrod, said on Fox News:
"I know he's talked to the governor [Blagojevich], and there are a whole range of names [of possible senate replacements], many of which have surfaced, and I think he has a fondness for a lot of them."Of course, faster than you can say, I don't know, "equine excrement," David Axelrod was out yesterday proclaiming that he erred on November 23:
"I was mistaken. ... They did not then or at any time discuss the subject."Such a statement proves at least one thing about Mr. Axelrod: He can no longer be trusted.
Of course, the question that first comes to the mind of any attentive observer of all this intrigue is not necessarily friendly to those committed to managing the Obama image: Is the president-elect competent to stand this trial?
Seriously. Can it be that Barack Obama, this great leader and political thinker, this man deemed shrewd, brilliant, original and fresh in all things political, has not spoken to the person authorized to appoint the successor to his senate seat? Or is this some sort of cynical joke? Could it really be that the man who is on top of all issues, the most ready man in America, has not once discussed succession with the Illinois governor? Not one time? Are they not long-time political allies?
Alas, I find that I am impaled on the horns of a dilemma: Barack Obama is either lying or he is not very attentive. If he is lying, then he is not a great president-elect. But if he is not lying, then he is not very attentive. And if he is not very attentive, then he is not a great president-elect.
But maybe, instead of creating apparently false dilemmas for myself, I should be asking this thoroughly popular question: Aren't there more urgent issues than character and corruption that we should be addressing?
Again, or so it seems, the corruption that we have learned of this week is, to bootleg Barack Obama's almost epigrammatic and always convenient turn of phrase, "just a distraction."
It might be a tad audacious to hope that Mr. Obama does not throw Rod Blagojevich under the now infamous bus. I suspect that Mr. Blagojevich, who seems just a tiny bit self-interested, might have a lot to share during his deposition. Let's just hope the governor doesn't commit suicide.
Peace.
©2008/Contratimes. All Rights Reserved.
