Obama Unfairly Tainted by Crimes He Didn't Commit

We've seen this show before: specious attempts to connect Barack Obama with corrupt or controversial figures in Chicago, followed, then, by a Republican and establishment media outcry for the president-elect to denounce and reject them.

A friend wrote earlier today:

I'm pretty sure you can tie Obama to the first Daley administration and its attendant corruption. Also, wasn't Obama somehow connected to Chicago crime boss Al Capone? And are you going to tell me that Chicago-based Obama was never involved in milking Mrs. O'Leary's arsonist cow?

We just can't be sure, can we? To be on the safe side, perhaps the president-elect ought to denounce and reject the cow anyway. Forcefully. Several times. While he's at it, how about rejecting Principal Rooney from the Chicago-based movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off? Breaking and entering the Bueller household through the dog door? I mean, come on, Mr. President-elect! That's not only a felony but also an egregious abuse of high school administrative power, sir, and you must denounce it.

It began yesterday with the RNC demanding to know the full extent of the president-elect's relationship with Blagojevich even though Patrick Fitzgerald was perfectly clear about the relationship when he said on national television that the president-elect had nothing to do with any of it. But to suggest that the former junior senator from Illinois never communicated with the governor of Illinois is ridiculous on its face -- of course there was the usual level of professional communication there, though it entirely fails to prove or even implicate any corruption on the part of Barack Obama. Then again, since when does reality matter?

Meanwhile, the Politico and numerous other news organizations have been attempting to make this the first "scandal" of the Obama presidency as if Blagojevich is somehow a member of the transition or an appointee to the future administration. The truth is Obama never endorsed Blagojevich and Blagojevich never endorsed Obama. Unless you consider Blagojevich's obnoxious "fuck him" remark to be an endorsement, that is.

Sean Hannity last night played the preemptive Minority Report card by suggesting that the president-elect could, some day in the future, become involved with the Blagojevich pay-or-play scam. In the future, Hannity said from the cockpit of his time-traveling DeLorean, Obama might grant favors to Blagojevich. And then he'll be doomed! Sometime in the future. Maybe.

On the clearly "liberal" MSNBC, daytime anchors went from not being able to pronounce the Illinois governor's name yesterday to repeatedly suggesting this morning that the president-elect wasn't forceful enough in his initial denouncement. Odd, considering this was exactly what RNC chairman Mike Duncan said in his statement.

Speaking of MSNBC, the word of the day in the establishment press? "Taint." To wit, my inner Beavis & Butthead giggled at this actual on-air MSNBC exchange:

NORAH O'DONNELL: Can Obama avoid being tainted by all of this?

CHUCK TODD: It depends on your definition of taint.

Huh-huh. Seriously, the only taint here is the taint that's being forced upon the president-elect by, well, all of the aforementioned taint... mongers? Taint merchants?

Nevertheless, as I write this, the president-elect has released a new statement calling for the governor to resign. This of course begs the establishment press topic for the rest of the day: Was Obama's statement calling for the governor's resignation strong enough? Should Obama release a third statement demanding that Blagojevich be launched into space inside of a creepy Phantom Zone square like the one from Superman II?

Really, is there anything the President-elect can do to satisfy these people?

Let's check the recent historical record. When former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was accused of ethics violations and money laundering, and then was indicted on charges of conspiring to commit campaign finance fraud and consequently resigned from Congress in disgrace, President Bush publicly denounced and rejected DeLay -- a fellow Texan.

Oh. Wait. President Bush didn't denounce DeLay at all. In fact...

Bush Expresses a Belief in DeLay's Innocence
New York Times

President Bush Shows Support to Embattled DeLay
The News Hour

President Says DeLay Is Not Guilty of Money Laundering
The Washington Post

Bush Declares DeLay Innocent
The Washington Post

Lott urges Bush to give DeLay 'aggressive support'
The Washington Times

Bush to Give DeLay a Lift to Show Support
The Los Angeles Times

Read that last headline again. Not only did President Bush not denounce and reject the corrupt Republican leader, but DeLay was literally rewarded with a free ride aboard Air Force One. Both men wantonly tainting each other aboard the presidential aircraft.

Contrastingly, Obama can't even live in the same state as Blagojevich without having to emphatically denounce the governor's crimes and stupidity. And even when he denounces and rejects Blagojevich, he's still defined as tainted.

The double standard confounds reason. Once again, Digby's prescient use of the phrase "intellectual violence" applies here: the shameless ability of the far-right and certain members of the establishment press to violently ignore reality and embrace dishonesty and hypocrisy at a level far beyond that of normal silly-season discourse. A while back, for example, I wrote that it was only a matter of time before the far-right attacked the president-elect for taking a vacation, even though President Bush set a White House record for vacations. And sure enough, it happened.

It appears as if in this post-Bushie universe, the president-elect doesn't have to be involved in corruption in order to be pegged as corrupt. Indeed, he can be entirely and vigorously declared corruption-free and still be tagged with a scarlet letter "T" (for "taint"). This is what we can expect for the next four years. The crazy has only just begun.

BobCesca.com

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Comments

[meinokea]

12:24 PM on 12/18/2008

I mean, I mean, I mean...
Grand Jury Sub Subpoena @ Mutual Bank on all land dealing between Rezko / Obama
I mean, I mean, I mean

[bob8jv]

03:36 PM on 12/17/2008

Wisdom and simple common sense are enough to convince the American people to hold releasing Obama report regarding the Blagojevic­h case. The FBI asks Obama not to release the report for a week due to ongoing investigat­ions. If Obama releases his report before the FBI gives him the ok, he could affect the outcome of Blagojevic­h investigat­ion. We are certain that if Obama releases that report at the inappropri­ate time the American people will chastise him. This is a straightfo­rward situation. Why are some reporters acting illogical and unwise any way? And why are not the media chastising them for asking the same dumb question over, and over, and over? The FBI investigat­ion is the most important issue. Even if most politician­s tell the truth, which we doubt, The American people will not believe them because they lost their credibilit­y. And if this mind set is not resolved quickly, reporters and the media will also lose their credibilit­y if they have not already done so. Obama has a lot of major issues on his plate. And for reporters and the media to take up his valuable and critical time on these no-brainer issues is sick. It would be wonderful if you guys try to support him more and help him move this country in the right direction.

[BoulderSue]

02:17 PM on 12/17/2008

Thank Heaven it's apparently all on tape! Hopefully that will shut up the sour grapes coming from certain Repubs! Also thank Heaven for certain Repubs who know the difference between media strirring up a story for ratings' sake and defending Obama as the honorable man he is! George and Dick aren't doing nearly so well on the videos taken of them in the past that they now blithely contradict­! Only 34 days to go! YES WE CAN! And thank Heaven for honest Repubs brave enough to speak their minds about the truth! They do exist, believe it or not!

[pbley68]

08:21 PM on 12/14/2008

This is a storm in a teacup, compared to what the Republican­s have done to this country in the past eight years.

[CalDoug]

03:57 PM on 12/14/2008

I think Cesca's friend overlooked the 1919 Chicago White Sox scandal. I haven't heard anything from the Obama camp denouncing that one, either.
Seriously, though, it is bizarre how the RNC is trying to taint Obama with the actions of Blagojevic­h who, on tape and in pretty clear terms, made it clear that Obama had not offered him anything. I could at least understand the RNC trying to exploit a guilt by associatio­n charge during the campaign - at least there is something to gain in the short term, and they could always worry about the truth later. This effort, though, seems both dishonest and pointless.

[sacto92]

02:45 PM on 12/14/2008

Oh how quickly you forget the last 8 yrs. I hope the Republican­s don't behave in any way like so many dems have over the last 8 yrs, i.e looking for any possible scandal, real or imagined that they can try to stick to the "other" side. But to start whining now is incredible hypocrisy. All you've done over the last few years is to try to paint all Republican­s with the same broad brush. I'm waiting for you to say the dems have a culture of corruption based on Blagojevic­h, Jefferson, the hacking of Palin's email, Jackson Jr, etc. etc.

[idest]

04:41 PM on 12/15/2008

This begs the question: which scandal of the Bush Administra­tion was "imagined"­?

[lobear00]

01:43 PM on 12/14/2008

Obama, would do this nation justice, by "Rehiring" all the fired US Attorneys, assign each to different tasks, One to investigat­e members of Congress, Democrats and Republican­s. One to investigat­e the Attorney Generals, both Mukasey, and Gonzo, a couple to go after bush and cheney, and the others to investigat­e all the "Minions" of the bush crime family, who infested all branches of the people's government­. Its long overdue to clean house of the filth that has permeated DC.

[dtd]

12:02 PM on 12/14/2008

What we know so far:

According to Blagojevic­h, there were 5 leading candidates for the Senate Seat.

According to Blagojevic­h, Senate candidate no. 1 was Obama's choice and Senate candidate no. 5 was not a preferred choice of Obama.

According to Blagojevic­h, PEO Obama's team was unwilling to give him anything for the appointmen­t of Senate candidate No. 1.

Senate Candidate No. 1, which is semi confirmed as Valerie Jarret, removed her name from early contention and accepted a job with the Administra­tion.

According to Blagojevic­h, an emissary for Senate candidate No. 5 was willing to "pay to play".

Jessie Jackson Jr. confirms he is Senate candidate No. 5, but insists he did not offer anything in return for the Senate seat but his qualificat­ions.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Jessie Jackson Jr. was NOT on the list of Obama's "acceptabl­e" candidates­, despite being on Obama's national campaign committee.

What we know about PEO from this and his cabinet selections­, he won't REWARD early supporters with their desired cabinet positions and he won't REWARD his national campaign committee member and friend by even putting him on a list of "acceptabl­e" candidates to fill his Senate seat.

[Durango]

11:35 AM on 12/14/2008

On Bill Moyers Friday night he showed excepts from Congressio­nal hearings on where the $350 billion bailout money went. Apparently no one knows because nobody kept track.

Some of it went directly into stock dividends to some of the largest and most corrupt banks

I didn't see anything other than 20 second sound bites about this in the Corporate media.

i did see endless and breathless reporting on Obama's connection­s, or rather lack of connection­s to Blago.

Get a clue Media. Bill Moyers knows NEWS when he sees it. You don't.

[Leatherhelmet]

05:50 PM on 12/14/2008

It wouldn't go to stock dividends. It went to stock or warrants the banks could buy back at a future date.
The reason they don't want to release the names of the bank is avoid panic and runs on the banks.
Congress was supposed to provide oversight. Blame Pelosi.

[idest]

04:44 PM on 12/15/2008

Wow, did you TRY to miss the point? The point, of course, being that the media is wasting their time trying to tie Obama to a scandal he had nothing to do with instead of reporting on the real scandal, which is that our money is being spent and no one knows how.

[Pappa]

07:49 PM on 12/13/2008

Anderson Cooper will chase this to the grave, and the news media wonder why sales are slumping. With all the people in the country without medical insurance; the news media gave less than a hoot (because they all have medicaql insurance) when the President elect attempted to introduce the person who will be significan­tly involved in health care for those who don't have medical care. They only wanted to link Obama with a person who on tape admitted that Obama would not pay to play. Honestly, the news media (except Huffington­) makes me sick with their contrived attempt to Link Obama with this dispicable person. Anderson Cooper and the rest of the alledged news media can eat my grits ( From the TV series Alice).

[JoeBridgeman]

11:44 PM on 12/13/2008

amen

[stefiz]

03:48 PM on 12/13/2008

let me get a bucket to vomit into.... this is going to be a long 4 years!!

[DACC]

04:03 PM on 12/13/2008

We made it through 8 you can certainly wing-it through 4. Just click your heels together and say "there's no place like home, there's no place like home"

[stefiz]

04:25 PM on 12/13/2008

just so you know i voted for Obama!, and my old bucket was out of commission after the last eight years!!!! the right makes me sick... just saying...

[TimothyChase]

05:21 PM on 12/13/2008

It might help to know what specifical­ly you are vomitting with regard to. Or is it simply a blanket vomitizati­on -- leaving us to "fill in" the blanks?

[stefiz]

02:21 AM on 12/14/2008

yeah... my bad!! i will be more specific next time!!

[ceasespin]

03:35 PM on 12/13/2008

Appellate Court Rules In Favor Of Fox News: Media Can Legally Lie
The attorneys for Fox, argued the First Amendment gives broadcaste­rs the right to lie or deliberate­ly distort news reports on the public airwaves.

This is a time of great and inspired change. We have a chance to fix big problems with using public advocacy. There is a solution for tempering not only the Hannity O'Reilly Rush triptych, but other problems with journalism­.

Let's discourage "yellow journalism­", the unfairness­, the lies of omission, bias and all that ails journalism today.

Visit http://FCC­LieSins.or­g

[DS1Roger]

01:05 PM on 12/14/2008

Be careful in what you wish. The media has delivered informatio­n with a slant from the very beginning. Whether the source was newspaper, pamphlets , radio, TV or internet. The choice here is to either control the media by the government or allow the freedom of speach.
If we allow the government to control our data sources we are on the road to ruin. Once they start controllin­g it we have no clue what the real facts are. Remember Chavez one of his actions was to shut down dissident by closing down radio stations that didn't agree with his views. Once we start down that slope imagine how bad it could get.
If we allow freedom of speech to rule. We will have lies , distortion­s and some independen­t truths to choose from. I would rather be able to read it all and sort out the facts my self than have controls enacted.

[lobear00]

03:06 PM on 12/14/2008

Its time to pull the Licenses of all "Corrupt " Media outlets in the United States, Not the Bush "Homeland"­.

[microcosm]

03:28 PM on 12/13/2008

Appellate Court Rules In Favor Of Fox News: Media Can Legally Lie
The attorneys for Fox, argued the First Amendment gives broadcaste­rs the right to lie or deliberate­ly distort news reports on the public airwaves.

This is a time of great and inspired change. We have a chance to fix big problems with using public advocacy. There is a solution for tempering not only the Hannity O'Reilly Rush triptych, but other problems with journalism­.

Let's discourage "yellow journalism­", the unfairness­, the lies of omission, bias and all that ails journalism today.

Visit http://FCC­LieSins.or­g

[SamMcGowan]

01:34 PM on 12/13/2008

Just how much more naive can Obama supporters be? The man is from the most corrupt political system in the country and probably in the entire world, and you think he somehow is not corrupt himself? NO ONE - NO ONE - is elected to high political office from Chicago without the support of the Chicago machine and without promising payback. Who knows what is going to happen between now and January 20 but we're headed for another corrupt presidency and a probable impeachmen­t before it's all over.

[Paganus]

02:14 PM on 12/13/2008

And then you woke up...

[JoeBridgeman]

11:49 PM on 12/13/2008

Gee, sam, if you are such an expert on chicago politics. Why don't you go there and become a consultant like rove. may be you can save the country while you are at it. You also seem to have great forecastin­g skills. You can make lots of money in Wall Street, too. good luck.

[Broderick]

12:32 PM on 12/13/2008

Please Coattail you've got Rush Limbaugh and Fox News defaming the Democratic party and demonizing all of us Democrats ever chance they get so please don't use the term biased referring to the press because we all know that is not true.