David Broder seems to think that Roland Burris’s ethical issues are somehow tarnishing President Obama:
The Burris case is before the Senate ethics committee, which has set no deadline for action. The question is what Reid and Obama will say and do about Burris’s intention to brush all this off and act as if he were entitled to retain his Senate seat.
Republicans — and everybody else — will be watching.
And what will the Republicans do? Gum them to death?
I don’t see it myself. If the public was willing to give Barack Obama a pass on Tony Rezko and the close relationships of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and former Illinois Senate President Emil Jones and Emil Jones with Barack Obama, I can’t see how turning a blind eye to Roland Burris’s problems will catch the public’s attention now.
I wonder if it is correct to say “the public .. gave a pass.”
We who live in Illinois might know of all the shady dealings and characters in the IL political soup from which Obama was spawned. But does the broader national public know of a thug like Emil Jones? During the campaign all was quickly whisked away, or not covered at all.
We could say the bizarre Blago situation got attention for a couple weeks. But when that astonishly thorough two day examination of Rhambo resulted in “move along. Nothing to see here.” It was over. Poof.
This is not just idle whining about the press. I think its a legitimate issue about transparency and accountability. If you happen to be in the wrong political party and you do a little bathroom toe tapping, those defenders of the truth can keep a story going for weeks, if not months. But Barney Frank’s buddies activities? Not so much.
Outright bribes for Senate seats? Casting aside well worn bankruptcy practices? Spending in months what takes others years? Hiring and firing the nations corporate leaders? Nah, let’s talk about Michelle’s arms, or how great last night’s speech’s delivery was.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Perhaps the Republicans can only gum them to death is because they know that the picture that 90% of Americans (those that even pay attention) will receive will have gone through a prism so distortive as to make the message unrecognizable and undeliverable.
But does the broader national public know of a thug like Emil Jones?
The public doesn’t care, Drew. Obama was giving a standing O in NY over the weekend for eating diner. (Presumably he chewed with his mouth closed.) The public has decided that it wants a God in human guise as its ruler, and nothing else matters. And the press is happy because (a) this God believes in exactly the same form of public looting that they believe in, and (b) it makes for easy copy.
(… press IS … not … press ARE …. As a hive they have only one mind, and should be classified as a single organism.)
Drew, you left out Obama ending the investigation of Black Panthers threatening voters who didn’t vote for Obama. Or that His Homeland Security Department has classified all conservatives as potential domestic terroists that should be closely monitored. One wonders why He bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia instead of insisting on the opposite.