Blagojevich Should Stick It Out, But When He Eventually Goes, He Can Take Some Of The Chicago Machine With Him

by Daniel T. Zanoza, Executive Director

As a social conservative, I never thought in the space of one calendar year I would have been defending soon-to-be Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and beleaguered Illinois Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich.  But sometimes fate can lead us to strange places.  I supported Hillary Clinton's doomed Democratic presidential primary bid against Barack Obama though I didn't have a vote in the matter.  At the time, I felt that even the Clintons would be better for America than President-elect B. Hussein Obama and, for the record, there has been nothing to change my mind.  Indeed, my opinion on the subject is even stronger since Obama finds himself in the middle of a number of controversies, even before he takes his oath of office on January 20th.

But what's done is done and we had to move on to something new and that something new was Rod Blagojevich.  Yes, Blagojevich is at the center of a political show that would have made Boss Tweed (New York's corrupt Tammany Hall); "Big Bill" Thompson (last mobbed-up Republican to serve as a Mayor of Chicago and an enabler for Al Capone's criminal dynasty); and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. (an African-American Congressman from Harlem who could have been the poster child for the yet to be created prosecutorial tool now called the RICO statute) equally proud.

My only response to this situation is, "You go, Rod!"  It's a great piece of political theater that I and many others want to see run for as long as a hit Broadway play.  Now, tish, tish you sacrosanct purveyors of good government.  Please don't try to tell me Blago is making a laughing stock out of Illinois.  Those of us who follow the political scene in the Land of Lincoln (sorry, Abe) know Illinois--lead by the Chicago political Machine--is about as trustworthy as Bernard Madoff or is it Madeoff--as in made off with $50 billion of other people's hard earned money, allegedly, of course.  Those who we really should have sympathy for in Illinois include members of the national mainstream media (MSM) who miserably failed to properly vet Obama who was spawned by a political machine that is so dirty it would make the Chicago River look like a stream of crystal clear water flowing out of an Alaskan glacier.  How's that for hyperbole and overblown allegory?  But I digress.

Then, there are the folks who live in New Jersey and Louisiana who believed they resided in the most corrupt state in the nation.  However, who am I kidding.  You didn't have to live in Chicago to know about the "Chicago way".  For that matter, you didn't have to live in America.  People from other countries when talking about the City of Broad shoulders would say, "Oh, Chicago!  Bang, bang!"  But now they probably exclaim "Oh, Chicago!  Ka-Ching, Ka-Ching!"

And then there are those poor political consultants.  I'm not talking about the good people who make a genuine effort at attempting to get honest candidates elected.  I'm referring to those scavengers who circle the political fields, using electoral updrafts in search of monetary carrion.  In other words, these people whisper in the ears of individuals who have little or no qualifications to hold elected office, but they have fat wallets and even fatter egos.  The hearts of these vultures were broken when the Democrats went back on their word--what a surprise--regarding a promise to hold a special election to fill the vacated Senate seat of Obama.  Big dollar signs were dancing in their heads as they dreamed about who they could talk into spending vast amounts of cash on a doomed campaign.  Doesn't your heart just bleed for these flim-flam men and women?

There are other people who are suffering because of Blagojevich's failure to slip quietly away into that dark night.  The Illinois governor is promising to fight this thing out to the very end and we should have sympathy for them.  Just imagine the members of the Daley Democratic Machine.  Blagojevich knows where all those proverbial "bodies" are buried.  After all, Mike Madigan, who chaired the Governor's re-election campaign just two years now says he's known how bad Blago was for six years.  Yes, you read that right and it would take a calculator to figure that math out.  It must be the "new math" and I mean very new.  Madigan liked him enough two years, but he's been after him in a negative way for six years.  Let's see, 6 minus 2 equals ... I give up. 

The Chicago media isn't looking too good either.  Many of them, including the Chicago Tribune's Rick Pearson, had a veritable Lazy Boy seat watching Chicago-style politics from just about as close as you can get.  But "pay for play" was just another way of doing business to some of those in the Chicago MSM.  You see, if you write bad things about Mayor Daley you lose access and if you lose access, you lose your job.  So it's better to go with the flow and lazily lounge in a journalistic row boat not far from the shore of Oak Street Beach, never getting in deep water that might pull you under and still collecting those fat paychecks while your newspaper goes bankrupt.  Nice work, if you can get it and look at yourself in the mirror at the same time. 

Sure, Blagojevich is making many people nervous, including some of those in the Republican Party.  If I tried to mention everyone who might be sweating as long as Blagojevich is hanging around, I'd be writing a book, not a column.  Of course, there are many good people who live in our state, they genuinely care about good governance and are deeply distressed over what is happening in Chicago and Springfield.  They see through the political impeachment of Blagojevich and realize it didn't take one man to create the mess Illinois now finds itself in.  They are the real losers.  I don't mean losers as far as the human equation:  I'm talking about an electorate that deserves better.

Therefore, I believe it's possible the pain Blagojevich is causing may be a good thing, even though it hurts for a while.  I compare it to the human body when it runs a fever.  When our internal temperatures go up, it means our bodies are actively trying to fight off disease and with the discomfort, eventually comes relief.  So those of you who think getting rid of Blagojevich will solve our problems should take a moment for reflection.  I'm talking about the people who really care, not those who are looking to take advantage of our state's time of desperation.

Blagojevich should stay right where he is and we should let the political chips fall as they may.  The cleansing process may be painful, but eventually there may be light at the end of this dark tunnel.  After all, things couldn't get much worse, could they?

Related articles:  

The Mob + the Daley Democratic Machine:  It's the Chicago Way:
http://rffm.typepad.com/republicans_for_fair_medi/2009/01/the-mob-the-daley-democratic-machine-its-the-chicago-way.html

Is Blagojevich Victim Of Witch Hunt?  Illinois Conservative Leader Thinks So And So Do I:
http://rffm.typepad.com/republicans_for_fair_medi/2008/12/is-blagojevich-victim-of-witch-hunt-illinois-conservative-leader-thinks-so-and-so-do-i.html

Blagojevich, Daley, Obama:  Peas From The Same Rotten Pod:
http://rffm.typepad.com/republicans_for_fair_medi/2008/12/blagojevich-daley-obama-peas-from-the-same-rotten-pod.html 

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Comments

[Charlie]

Great column. This old fart hopes that Blago... takes many down with him, would be fun to watch. Never saw any group in such a hurry to get ride of anyone they helped elect. If I did not have to live in Illinois, this would be great fun.