Down with Blago!

Well, not exactly 'down' with Blago. But, I'm down with Blago! Down with his shtick and political gamesmanship-- a gamesmanship that has not been seen in decades in American politics, to this degree. To a political animal, like myself, this is quite a lovely spectacle. Only if there were not serious charges for Governor Blagojevich to answer, it would be a good show. But, corruption, even in Illinois, is a serious issue--especially since it went national, with the president elect called to answer.

Governor Rod Blagojevich, as you probably have heard by now, has been accused of trying to "sell", president elect Barack Obama's senate seat. There has been telephone conversations, taped by federal officials, where it can be explicitly heard that the Governor is looking to "cash in"on the senate seat, so to speak.

The telephone conversations are a bit gross to listen to. But, did he in fact mean in full context that he will sell the Obama senate seat? Were we getting the Governor in full context and meaning and also, took into consideration his flair for the obscene vernacular? These are the issues the Governor wants to raise and they are 1. The fact that he speaks like this all of the time and 2. He did not "actually and technically" exchange the seat for money.

What's weird is that generally, federal prosecutors, even when they don't have all of their ducks in a row, are always out in front and willing to talk about, or, take questions about why they can't go into detail with the case--media darlings, they are. But, the U.S. Attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald and his team, have been eerily silent on the matter. This raises more questions, especially when it is out of character for them not to "show out" and parade around the press meeting areas when they have a case, or when they feel that they can win--slam dunk, or not. Everyone knows, every single lawyer in the US Attorney's office is a "wanna be" politician. Hence, the vainglorious press conferences and profligate demagoguery to folks on the merit of criminal corruption and anything that gets them in front of the camera. This time, however, they moved too soon.

This raises an issue mentioned in the media when the Fed's finally came in and, as they would put it, "stopped the Governor from making a mistake". The Fed's used the old "intervention on the issue of possible intention", plank. Some folks in the media, especially on MSNBC and CNN, wondered if whether or not the Fed's moved too soon with no real case to prove? Over zealous was the Fed, as I would put it. But, in actuality, over zealousness, is a typical behavioral pattern of the personnel at the "Cinderella" department of the US federal government--who are [The US Attorney's Office] grossly over rated and I have the opinion that the FBI and US Marshall's, do a better job in fact finding, with out all of the political hoop-lah and fan fare as well as do much more in regards to bringing solutions to crisis situations.

My contention is, however; did in fact money change hands for this senate seat? Is there, also, a litany of other criminal activity by the Governor that coincides with him being labeled corrupt? This is the case the US Attorney's office has to make to the public. Or else, they would have caused this whole mess, all for nothing concrete--whether or not Governor Blagojevich is a corrupt politician, or not.

Now, if the case can't be proven--and from where I sit, the case is far from being proven and I feel this is a prime reason why Gov. Blagojevich took the fight-- what does this mean for his political future, which has given impetus for the Illinois state legislature, to take him onto impeachment proceedings--114 to 1 of the state legislature, voted in favour of impeachment-- prompting the Governor, to go out to a full court press conference, giving one of the more spectacular performances of a political lifetime. It was so brilliant and arrogant at the same time, that he could have won an Oscar hands down.

The issue now comes to; if the US Attorney's office does not have a case, then, the state legislature in Illinois, also, should not have a case. The precedent for impeaching a Governor, whether we like him personally or not, because we "think" he would have acted improperly in the future, is out right ludicrous and is not what America is about.

So, yes, I do believe Illinois politicians are using the negative press about their Governor, to sure up their own tainted image--one in which corruption and Illinois politics, are a way of life. The state legislature, as even the Governor admitted, did nothing out of character in regards to protecting their own image and political interests--if federal prosecutors, were to actually begin to "investigate" the matter rather than "speculate" on the matter, if whether or not he would do anything illegal, or not, we would have a resignation press conference, instead of the other way around.

I also do believe, they acted out of self interest and for their own political interests, in keeping issues status quo--the Governors, in most instances in the other states, are most reasonably hated by the legislature for different reasons. You can't please all of the people, all of the time and hence, the state legislature and the Governors mansion, are always at eternal odds if the Governor, has the power to sign, veto or amend anything that comes across his desk-- a look at what happened to former Governor of New York Spitzer when he fell out of favour up in Albany and what's happening now, perpetually, with Governor Schwarzenegger in California.

However, the issue moves on to, now, as it is seen that the Governor is apparently going to fight it all the way; what other tricks does the Governor have up his sleeve? The thought of more out of this spectacle, is enough to make a full fed terrier salivate.

Will the Governor, go on a state wide purge? Will the governor, shake up state staff? Will the Governor, open up investigation probes into corruption of other Illinois state representatives, up and down, rank and file? Will the Governor, find a way to say that president elect Obama, knows too well the Chicago machine in politics? Will the Governor, use dirty, down home political investigations to take the heat off of him? I am quite sure we can find more than a bevy of improper political activity in Illinois--some more serious than what Blagojevich attempted to do and certainly, nothing out of character with any state political machinery-- especially if we are to take the corruption ranking of Illinois, quite literal.

We've seen the Roland Burris senate appointment unfold and continually unfolding, which was a master stroke by the Governor, buying him some admirers and also buying him some time, politically and legally. We also saw this recent press conference, where the performance was beyond Oscar winning.

What will the Governor do next? I tip toe with anticipation, indeed!

What ever it is or will be, it is a show and in politics, the show means more than what the state legislators try to interpret as the law on any matter. What we can't forget with politics is that politics, is about what the people feel about the entire situation of what's going on the way the experience it. If they are willing to stick with their man, they will. If they choose to remember the good times, over the bad with their man, they will and there is nothing anyone can do about it

Hence, my ultimate conclusion that the Oscar winning performance of the decade in that of the Governor's post impeachment vote, in fact and quite directly, pandered to the people and the political sentiments of Illinoisan's--who, in fact, voted for Governor Blagojevich, not once, but, twice.

So, if they [federal prosecutors] can't prove a case of illegal activity, then Governor Blagojevich, politically speaking, isn't going anywhere!