Dining with a few Chicago readers as well as in my correspondence with readers who couldn’t make our dinner Wednesday night, I hear the stories, as only natives of the Windy City can tell, of how wonderful their city it is, yet how corrupt its officials. (Kind of like Angelenos singing the praise of our burg, while shaking our heads at some of the antics of our fellows.)
With their words in my head as I headed east on the 80 Thursday morning, a thought occurred to me. And not for the first time. How did the media let Barack Obama get away with styling himself as a “new kind of politician” when he had cut his political teeth in a city known for its corruption and double-dealing?
Why didn’t anyone in the MSM ask him how he could be such a noble figure in politics, given this background? And if he had such a sterling political character, why didn’t they ask him to just just how he stood up to the corruption endemic to Chicago and to identify the double-dealing Cook County officials he helped bring down?
So, are you making an accusation or what? I’ve never seen anything to suggest Obama was part of this vague, unspecified corruption in Chicago.
What is this post about?
Levi, what is this post about? Why don’t you read it and find out?
And while you’re at it, why don’t you address the questions I posed. Do you have examples of Obama taking on corruption in the town where he cut his political teeth?
Given that its been a long time since Chicago smash style politics was the norm in DC it IS new. Al Capone is smiling down upon it all.
And Levi ignores Rezco, Blaggo, President Obama’s association with terrorists…
Chicago politics are a cesspool. Not a day goes by where something doesn’t go on in the city or county government that makes normal people sick but is just the status quo. When a politician gets indicted, it barely makes a splash anymore.
So when Obama seemingly came out of nowhere, the media gave him a pass. Tony Rezko – oh, he’s just a friend – never mind that very suspicious of land deal or that fundraising. Or anyone else for that matter. Obama was a blank slate with great credentials on paper, so people naturally projected how *amazing* he was without being able to name one good thing about what he stood for or anything else.
Let’s take our former Governor Blagojevich. He grew up with Chicago politics, has a father in law who was an Alderman and very much entrenched in the Machine. So when he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar (allegedly) asking for a gift for the open Senate seat, to him, he did nothing wrong because it’s how the game is played in Chicago. I mean, a Senate seat *is* a f***ing valuable thing!
The media in Chicago gave him a pass. They were more interested in the skeletons in Jack Ryan’s closet and his divorce than they were about this south side community organizer. “BUT HE WAS A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER!” they’d shout and if you dared ask what a community organizer was, you’d be labeled as a racist because obviously that’s a sign that I hate black people.
In Chicago politics, it’s virtually impossible to get into the Democratic party and run successfully for any office without knowing someone or owing someone. The media failed miserably in doing due diligence in the 2004 campaign for Senate, and then acted as his cheerleader for the 2008 Presidency.
Dan, for the millionth time, I read the post. Why does Obama need to prove to you that he fought corruption? Do you make such demands of republicans? By all accounts, he has not been implicated in any kind of government scandal as president or otherwise, which is more than most republican leaders of the past decade can claim. Why are you holding Obama to a unique standard you don’t even demand for you own leaders? It isn’t enough to be not corrupt, you have to actively combat it? How would you suggest someone go about doing that? And if I said I wanted to consider not being corrupt as actively combating corruption, would you tell me I was wrong?
@Levi, you are one sick, stupid obot.
The POTUS, whoever it might be should be held to a very high standard. It is not just for this extremely corrupt politician.
It goes to show that because the LSM is refusing to cover the Blagojevich trial, which is still in pre-trial, that few are aware of the extremely sleazy links that are involved. As Nick said, there is a very strong link to Tony Rezko. The is the issue of a land deal, that involves Rezko’s wife as real estate agent, and there is the issue of a bank loan – including the possibility of money laundering.
The clown now occupying the White House is not innocent of wrong doing. This clown is right in the thick of the sleazy Chicago politics.
The sleazy corrupt clown in the White House did nothing to combat that corruption because he was up to his neck in that corruption.