The Barack Obama administration isn’t even in office yet and already they find themselves embroiled in a scandal of Watergate proportions! Saturday Night Live couldn’t have written a better skit.
As I reported last week, Obama blatantly lied to the media and the American public during a hastily-called press conference on Dec. 9 following the arrest of Illinois gov. Rod Blagojevich on corruption charges.
Instead of simply telling the truth and admitting that he and/or his team were in talks with the governor about his Senate seat, Obama predictably chose to lie, saying, “I had no contact with the governor or his office, and so we… I was not aware of what was happening” [LINK]
In reality, not only was Obama fully aware of what was happening regarding his Senate seat, but as it turns out, HE was running the show!
Reports are that Obama’s Chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, provided Blagojevich with a list of candidates approved by Obama himself! [LINK]
And guess whose name was not on Obama’s approved list? Jesse Jackson Jr, who was forced to cut a deal for himself through an emissary!
According to a 76-page federal complaint, Blago’s wife was to be appointed to a cushy position on the board of a private foundation in exchange for choosing a Senator that Obama approved of — the drawback was she would have to wait two years to be seated. Of course that did not sit well with Blago who ranted and raved about being forced to wait. [LINK]
Blago is heard on the federal wiretaps ranting that he has to “suck it up” for two years and do nothing and give this “motherfucker [the President-elect] his senator [now]. Fuck him. For nothing? Fuck him.”
Many Obama supporters thought that meant Obama was offering Blago nothing in exchange for choosing the Senator that Obama wanted.
In reality, Obama wanted Blago to wait for “two years” before delivering on any promises so that no one could make the connection back to him (Obama). In other words, Obama was covering his ass, but Blago was not willing to wait that long.
Also on the wiretap, an advisor tells Blago to “be leery of promises for something two years from now”.
In retaliation for not giving him a quid pro quo now and making him wait two years, Blago is heard on the wiretap threatening to give Obama’s Senate seat to candidate #5 (Jackson) — whose name is not on Obama’s approved list.
All of this means that when Obama declared that he was not aware of any “deals” surrounding his seat, he was clearly lying since it was his list that Blago was working from!
Is it any wonder why Blago is strutting around Chicago looking so confident and perky?
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald was careful to say that prosecutors were making “no allegations” that Obama knew of any dealings for his Senate seat. But the wiretaps prove otherwise. And there are still over 200 hours of wiretaps evidence that haven’t been released.
Fitzgerald safeguarded his job by wrapping the case up now instead of after January 20 when Obama would have fired him and this case would have been swept under the rug.
Now rumor has it that Obama must fire Rahm Emanuel to preserve the integrity of the transition team, lol.
Here’s a lesson for you kids: lying will get you nowhere. All Obama had to do was tell the truth from the get-go and all of this mess could have been avoided.
Even his hometown newspaper, The Chicago Tribune, has turned on him:
The national media outlets were desperate to portray him as someone about to transcend our politics. But in Chicago he was just a smooth guy on the way up, looking the other way….. [LINK]