The New York Times
Emanuel Had Contact With Governor's Office on Senate Seat
By HELENE COOPER and JACKIE CALMES
December 13, 2008
CHICAGO - President-elect Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, communicated with the office of Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois about potential candidates for Mr. Obama's Senate seat and provided a list of names, according to two Obama associates briefed on the matter.
The Obama associates said the interactions concerned several people who might fill the seat. Such contacts are common among party officials when a political vacancy is to be filled. It was not clear whether the communication was via direct telephone calls.
The Chicago Tribune reported that communications between Mr. Emanuel and the governor, both Democrats, had been captured on court-approved wiretaps, but Obama associates gave conflicting accounts of the interactions... .
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Folks, this is what the Repubican-inspired Blagojevich brouhaha is ultimately about: To harass, confuse, and, if possible, derail President-elect Barack Obama's administration before he has had an opportunity to begin to turn around the national and international disaster that is the legacy of the Bush years.
The nation and the world have been inspired by Barack Obama. Collectively and individually we dare to entertain hope for the first time in a decade that all is not lost--that Obama with his remarkable gifts and unprecedented mandate can restore America to her rightful place in the family of man. His beginnings have been propitious. His staff choices have been outstanding. The man deserves an opportunity to govern now.
But apparently Barack Obama will not be provided this opportunity. Rather, he and his staff will be required to devote inordinate time, energy, and resources defending themselves against tiresome prattle and endless innuendo about the Rod Blagojevich matter. This, at a critical juncture when the Obama team needs to address a thousand more important issues.
Did Obama communicate with Blagojevich?
Did Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, communicate with Blagojevich and to what end?
Did any one of hundreds of Obama staffers communicate with Blagojevich and what was the nature of such communication?
Etc., etc., etc., ad infinitum.
Republicans in and out of Congress, as well as members of the national press who are ever anxious to fan flames which might provide grist for a reportorial style dependent upon hand wringing crisis--will endeavor to keep a tenuous Obama-Blagojevich connection simmering for years--with or without justification.
Remember Bill Clinton's long persecution over Whitewater? Remember Jennifer Flowers? Such non-stories never go away when a Democrat who is attempting to govern his nation is involved.
Personally, I don't give a rat's ass who on Obama's staff talked to Rod Blagojevich or what the nature of such conversations may have been.
Obama's plate is full on the eve of his inauguration. The hopes of a nation and a world ride on his shoulders.
Barack Obama should not have to expend time and energy troubling himself about or renouncing Rod Blagojevich's unstable and excessive recent behavior. Our president-elect has more important things to do.
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