Psst . . . Wanna Buy a Senate Seat?
HAYES, STEPHEN F.
Pssst . . . Wanna Buy a Senate Seat? Saddened, sobered, appalled— what does Obama really think about Governor Blagojevich? BY STEPHEN F. HAYES ‘Saddened and sobered”—that was Barack Obama’s...
...Even by the standards of a state known for its dirty politics, the audacity of Blagojevich’s corruption was breathtaking...
...A “top Obama adviser” explained the decision this way...
...He spoke openly about his desire to get something in exchange for the seat and schemed with his advisers about his best options...
...They’re not willing to give me anything but appreciation,” Blagojevich said of Obama and his staff...
...It’s speculation, but it fi ts the timeline...
...WLS, a Chicago talk-radio station, reported the same thing...
...Outraged...
...And at a press conference last Thursday, during which Obama upgraded his reaction from “saddened and sobered” to “appalled,” he promised to make public details of any contacts that his staff had with Blagojevich or the governor’s staff about the Senate seat...
...What happened...
...attorney’s offi ce today,” Obama said before a meeting on energy with Vice President-elect Joe Biden and former Vice President Al Gore...
...After the story broke on December 9, reporters quickly focused on a series of events that began fi ve days after Obama was elected...
...Martin broke the news on November 14...
...At one point, Blagojevich mused about being named secretary of health and human services in exchange for appointing Jarrett to the seat...
...We basically laid out the general election, Barack and I and these two...
...Certainly...
...In an interview before the election, Obama’s newly named White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, suggested that the president-elect did have such a relationship with Blagojevich...
...F— them...
...Stephen F. Hayes is a senior writer at THE WEEKLY STANDARD...
...Wrong emotion...
...BY STEPHEN F. HAYES ‘Saddened and sobered”—that was Barack Obama’s first response to the corruption charges against Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, charges that include an attempt to sell Obama’s old Senate seat to the highest bidder...
...While [Obama] thinks she would be a good senator, he wants her in the White House...
...He tried to have editorial board members of the Chicago Tribune fi red for criticizing him...
...Roland Martin, a Chicago political commentator with close ties to Obama, says the president-elect formally offered Jarrett a White House job on November 9, while she was on business in New York...
...Disgusted...
...This chain of events led to speculation last week that one of Obama’s advisers learned about the conference call and Blagojevich’s desire for some kind of quid pro quo for appointing Jarrett...
...And while there is still the possibility that the Blagojevich scandal will tarnish Obama and his advisers—if Obama fails to make public a complete and accurate listing of the contacts with Blagojevich, for instance—the complaint makes clear that Blagojevich was frustrated and angry that the Obama team was not open to his advances...
...He and Obama “participated in a small group that met weekly when Rod was running for governor,” Emanuel said...
...Ryan Lizza wrote in the New Yorker: Rahm Emanuel, a congressman from Chicago and a friend of Obama’s, told me that he, Obama, David Wilhelm, who was Blagojevich’s campaign cochair, and another Blagojevich aide were the top strategists of Blagojevich’s victory...
...Martin says Jarrett told him she would be an assistant to the president and head of the White House Offi ce of Public Liaison...
...Jarrett told Martin about the offer the next day and said he could break the story when the Obama transition was ready to make a formal announcement...
...But “saddened” is the kind of reaction you have if a friend loses a spouse or if someone you trust lets you down...
...Even with a 76-page complaint, a lengthy press conference by Fitzgerald, and lots of reporting in the public record, we know very little about what actually happened...
...He traded seats on important state boards and commissions for campaign cash...
...Most egregiously, though, Blagojevich tried to sell Obama’s Senate seat...
...If someone had taken a poll of the rest of the people of Illinois that day I’d guess very few of them would have offered “saddened” in response to a question on their feeling about Blagojevich’s efforts to make money on just about everything that happened in Illinois over the past six years...
...At another, he developed a scheme in which he would take a high-paying job as head of “Change to Win,” a union-backed advocacy group...
...According to the affi davit, Blagojevich held a two-hour conference call on November 10 with a large number of advisers...
...F—ing sick of this s— from these a—holes...
...He has said—repeatedly and categorically— that he had no contact with Blagojevich about his replacement...
...So what did Obama know...
...But, as Obama cheerfully recalled at his press conference Thursday, that Blagojevich had used an obscenity to describe him (the affi davit specifi es “motherf—er...
...It’s not the kind of reaction you have if you’ve run a campaign for a politician only to have him embarrass himself in wiretaps from a federal investigation into his six-year orgy of corruption...
...But a little more than 24 hours later, CNN reported that Jarrett would not be getting the job...
...Sure...
...Entertained...
...Blagojevich was elected in 2002 and, according to the 76-page affidavit released by U.S...
...Blagojevich was conspicuously absent from Obama’s victory celebration in Grant Park on Election Night, and he had no speaking role at the Democratic National Convention...
...Blagojevich believed that Obama wanted Valerie Jarrett, a longtime friend and confi dante of the president-elect, to have the seat, so he schemed to extract goodies from the incoming administration...
...Obviously, like the rest of the people of Illinois, I am saddened and sobered by the news that came out of the U.S...
...And by most accounts Obama and Blagojevich were not terribly close (and not close at all after the public learned that Blagojevich’s administration was the subject of a federal investigation...
...This person says that while Jarrett wanted to be appointed to the Senate, Obama always wanted Jarrett with him at the White House...
...One Illinois political insider said that while some donor sharing was natural given that both men were rising stars in the Democratic party, he was surprised that there wasn’t more overlap...
...Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald last week, almost immediately began a “pay-to-play” scheme that aggressively solicited campaign donations from those who wanted to do business with the state and denied state business to those who refused to participate...
...Wilhelm would later say that Emanuel had overstated Obama’s role...
...According to an individual with knowledge of internal Obama transition deliberations, that speculation is wrong...
...With this knowledge, Jarrett withdrew from consideration before anyone from the Obama transition could be accused of cooperating with Blagojevich...
...In one taped conversation he declared the Senate seat “a f—g valuable thing,” adding, “You just don’t give it away for nothing...
...If you’re Rod Blagojevich...
...On November 9, CNN reported that Obama wanted Blagojevich to appoint Jarrett to succeed him...
Vol. 14 • December 2008 • No. 14
