RNC Statement on Blagojevich/Obama Communication and Further Thoughts

RNC Chairman Mike Duncan is not satisfied with Obama's answers:

President-elect Barack Obama's carefully parsed and vague statements regarding his own contact and that of his team with Governor Rod Blagojevich are unacceptable. Considering the severity of the allegations against Governor Blagojevich, the President-elect should immediately disclose any and all communications his transition team has had with the governor's office along with any Service Employees International Union (SEIU) officials involved in the matter. Obama's promise of transparency to the American people is now being tested.

We got a lot of promises of transparency, but we never really got much delivered, from health records to college transcripts to mysterious doings in the IL state senate, so this is not really surprising. There's nothing out there linking Obama to any crime with Blagojevich, but there are plenty of trouble spots. One I alluded to yesterday, which is if Obama or someone on the team knew about Blago's demands, did they go to Fitzgerald immediately? If not, that's a problem, if not an actual crime (which it likely isn't).

Jim Geraghty puts it.

But that's what makes yesterday's "it would be inappropriate to comment" stonewalling from Obama so bizarre. He said nothing beyond that it was a "sad day." There was no glimpse of anger at the governor, no sense of betrayal in the tone of his words. He spoke as if Blagojevich had been in a car accident. If Obama is in the clear, why can he not say what he thinks of these disturbing revelations? Why didn't he do what almost every other Democrat in the state did, and call for Blagojevich's resignation?

...

We haven't gotten the whole story on this. We know the Obama camp didn't want to play ball with Blagojevich, and that's reassuring. But who heard what from the corrupt governor? What was the response? Did anyone go to Fitzgerald or the FBI? And who gave Blago his answer that all he would get in return was "appreciation"?

Obama did finally call for the resignation, but he's making it clear that the last thing they want to do is talk about this and lay all the facts on the table with timelines and communications. Which may be a sign of disorganization and/or somebody really did do something that probably looks and smells pretty bad.

But beyond that, and what seems to me to be the bigger issue. is that Blagojevich appears to be a class A sleaze. Blagojevich is a sleaze and I'll give you a 99% chance he was always a sleaze. People hardly ever change. My big question for Obama would be, when did you find out that Blagojevich was an ethically loose powerhungry thug? Was it just now? Or did you have any inkling of this when you endorsed him for governor in 2002? And I'm not talking about the crimes here, I'm partially talking about Blago's coarse, vulgar and borderline psychopathic way of dealing with people.

But then again, Obama did install Rahm as his Chief of Staff, so maybe he's working with a different set of standards on that front. Hope and change and all that.

Meanwhile let's talk about healthcare, in other words, Quick change the subject!