It may be that Obama himself didn’t speak to Blago or the governor’s staff, but I would be astonished if, through his own subordinates, he didn’t let it be known who he’d like to see appointed to his Senate seat.
More likely through an associated party rather than a subordinate. Nate Silver believes this to be Andy Stern, of the SEIU. Stern is in no way a “subordinate” of Obama.
Even if somebody told Blago’s staff who Obama would like to see get the seat, that in itself means nothing if there was no offer or discussion of a deal.
I couldn’t imagine that Obama wouldn’t put his 2 cents in. After all, it’s not illegal to discuss who would be the best candidate and give an opinion. I’m kind of surprised that Obama took the stand that no one on his staff ever even discussed it with Blago. I’d be surprised if that were actually true, and it makes his claim seem implausible.
I can’t see Obama having anything to do with the dirty deals surrounding this episode. I would be astonished, however, if he hadn’t had some contact (directly or indirectly) with the governor on who he thought his replacement should be. I would expect that to happen whenever this type of situation arose.
With the all the tapes and the evidence that the feds have on Blago, there’s no way Obama would would be so categorical about denying contact if there was any chance he wasn’t telling the truth.
I heard that one of Blago’s complaints on the tapes is that Obama’s people won’t return his phone calls, and that they’re avoiding him like they think he’s some kind of a criminal.
Now what could possibly make them think that?
Obama reportedly couldn’t stand Blago. His staff also knew about the investigation and wanted to keep Obama away from him. I don’t find it implausible that contact with Obama’s inner circle was avoided.
A relevant Washington Post story called “Obama worked to distance self from Blagojevich early on.”
Staff does not equal transition team does not necessarily equal some other contact, that’s how I read it. Yesterday some writers were speculating that Blagojevich had communicated his views to an SEIU rep or someone similar who was familiar with Obama’s team and had access to them that could’ve been used to relay a message.
Except that he is no longer categorically denying contact.
Everyone hates Blago. He has, like 3 friends in the world now, and one of them is his wife. Obama can hate him as much as he wants, but the fact is, the Governor was going to make that appointment, and I can’t imagine that the POTUS wouldn’t feel he had enough stake in it to at least make his opinion known, if not try to use a little pull to make it go the way he wants.
See, I read that as “I didn’t think we had any, to the point that I was willing to publicly deny it, but I now heard something in passing about someone on the staff going off the reservation and I’m going to get to the bottom of it. Stay tuned.”
That still sound pretty categorical to me. He knows he’s got nothing to worry about because he really is clean.
I think the most that happened is that one of Blago’s minions got through to Rahm Emanuel after like three weeks of trying and asked who Obama wanted in the seat. Rahm told them who Obama would like to see. Blago’s minion asked what Obama would offer in return and Rahm basically went Michael Corleone on him — “My offer is this…nothing.” He then hung up on the dude and called the feds to drop the dime.
Me, too. I think it was unwise of him to so categorically deny any contact, and although some righties seem to be making a big deal of that, I’d just chalk it up to a minor slip by someone who is going to have every word he utters scrutinized under a microscope for the next 4 (or 8) years.
Uh uh, his brother sat down with Blago’s fund raisers to help "pave the way" for Jr. to head toward the seat. Not exactly mom and apple pie clean, but politics as usual. Personally, I hope Jr. wasn’t involved, he’s a personable, honest stand-up guy with real vision, at least he’s been when I’ve spoken to him. I hope he’s learned something being reared in that family.
The thing that’s encouraging about Obama is that he is willing to discipline his staff for overreaching, unlike the Current Occupant whose staff apparently has carte blanche and an automatic obfuscation in the wings. I mean, when’s the last time you heard anything from Samantha Power in any official capacity in the Obama campaign/transition? There was a lot of blog commentary that once the primaries were over, Power would be back in, or at least have a seat in the administration. Where is she? Coventry, that’s where…she screwed up and Obama dismissed her. There is organizational discipline in the Obama operation.
Never mind. With the edit, I’m clear now. But the thing is, we weren’t talking about Jackson, we were discussing the Obama quote.
Yeah, I figured he was going to have to backpedal off of that one. There’s just no way that NO ONE talked to the Gov about it. As I said before, though, that’s a long way from striking a deal, or even talking about striking a deal.
I don’t know if Jesse Jr. is clean or dirty, but I do think that it’s entirely plausible that a deal could be made on his behalf and he wouldn’t even know about it. Someone else may have had a compelling reason to want him in the seat, or want someone else to stay out of the seat, and maybe even enough of a reason to cough up a hundred grand to ensure it.