By now I’m am sure almost everyone has heard the story behind Democratic Illinois Governor, Rod Blagojevich’s arrest for corruption for among other things, trying to sell Obama’s vacated Senate seat to the highest bidder.
The entire country is outraged at this- even the people of Illinois, where corrupt politicians are nothing new. It certainly seems that Blago has brought a new all-time low to politics. After reading more on the charges against him, the only word that came to mind for him is ‘thug.’ Who else but a thug would threaten to pull a grant from a children’s hospital if the hospital didn’t donate $50,000 to a political campaign?
It seems like Blago would not have been able to resign fast enough after his arrest, but it doesn’t appear he is going to. ABC News is reporting that Blago has better things to do than worry about calls for his resignation. They report he is upbeat and positive. Blago is continuing with his duties, even signing an autism bill on Friday, as if these allegations against him do not matter. Seems like strange behavior from a man whom the federal government arrested, and has a 78 page complaint against.
Here is my take on why Blago is so upbeat and positive, and has not resigned. He knows WHOM he was talking to on all of those recordings the FBI has of him. He knows those other voices he was talking to were probably recorded as well. My guess he has a lot of dirt on a lot of people.
I think Blago is probably more in the driver’s seat right now than many realize. If Blago is forced to resign- he starts talking, starts naming names, and taking people down with him-perhaps even someone in our President-elect’s office, which could very likely lead right back to Obama himself. There is a lot of speculation right now who Blago was talking with- the only people who know for sure: Blago, the other parties, and possibly the FBI.
Quite frankly, Blago probably has a lot to be upbeat and positive about. He is not going to go down by himself. A thug never goes down without taking others down with him, and he probably has the means to do just this. Blago can name names- that is one thing. If he can prove it, that takes the stakes up a notch. If he has a name in the President-elect’s office, well- that would be just as big, or a bigger scandal than Blago’s. What better way to take the attention off of yourself.
Blago certainly is acting like he doesn’t have a care in the world-and not as a man who is going to resign. If Blago has information that could be damaging to other politicians and officials, and I think he does, I’d say he has ’em right where he wants ’em. And that is why he hasn’t resigned. This should be very interesting to see how it plays out.
UPDATE: I just came across a blog post on American Thinker on why Blagojevich should not resign– if you are interested in all of this, check out this post from a Cornell Law Professor.