To be candid, I'm not that eager to jump on the "Damn Blagojevich" bandwagon. One thing I've learned in my many years is that what appears clear and easily defined in the political arena, often is anything but. So, while I grant that Governor Rod may indeed be a dirty and corrupt political parasite, I'm equally open to the idea that things may not be as they first appear.
So many aspects of powerful politics appear to be "wag the dog" scenarios. At first, the media blares headlines. People immediately make up their minds yea or nay based on spotty and, often, extremely biased reporting. Slowly, but surely, the truth comes out and it tends not to resemble the original headlines at all.
Whenever I hear or read stories of this nature, the very first question that pops into me noggin is: What advantage do the various players get out of this situation? If the answer to this question can be approximated -- and often, it can't be -- then you have a better than average chance of deciding the veracity of the various claims.
I guess what bothers me the most about the Blagojevich case is that I think this kind of horse selling goes on everyday in the backrooms of politics. Each time a contentious bill comes up, there are all sorts of [shady] deals being brokered out of public view to convince others to vote the bill up or down. So, what is it about this particular instance that caused criminal charges to be lodged?
One thing that jumps out at me is that Gov. Blagojevich was about ready to announce his selection of a replacement for the departed Rohm Emmanuel. It is more than conceivable that some in Illinois and/or the national Democratic Party leadership knew who the selection would be and they didn't like it. Therefore, they needed a quick strategy to derail the selection and arresting the governor fit the bill.
Like I said, they could have Blagojevich dead to rights and the charges against him are true and bona fide. I'm simply not ready to hang the man yet...not until some more of the dots are filled in.
So many aspects of powerful politics appear to be "wag the dog" scenarios. At first, the media blares headlines. People immediately make up their minds yea or nay based on spotty and, often, extremely biased reporting. Slowly, but surely, the truth comes out and it tends not to resemble the original headlines at all.
Whenever I hear or read stories of this nature, the very first question that pops into me noggin is: What advantage do the various players get out of this situation? If the answer to this question can be approximated -- and often, it can't be -- then you have a better than average chance of deciding the veracity of the various claims.
I guess what bothers me the most about the Blagojevich case is that I think this kind of horse selling goes on everyday in the backrooms of politics. Each time a contentious bill comes up, there are all sorts of [shady] deals being brokered out of public view to convince others to vote the bill up or down. So, what is it about this particular instance that caused criminal charges to be lodged?
One thing that jumps out at me is that Gov. Blagojevich was about ready to announce his selection of a replacement for the departed Rohm Emmanuel. It is more than conceivable that some in Illinois and/or the national Democratic Party leadership knew who the selection would be and they didn't like it. Therefore, they needed a quick strategy to derail the selection and arresting the governor fit the bill.
Like I said, they could have Blagojevich dead to rights and the charges against him are true and bona fide. I'm simply not ready to hang the man yet...not until some more of the dots are filled in.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are unmoderated, so you can write whatever you want.