Posted by CB on December 16, 2008 at 20:36:49
In Reply to: Re: How will the drama in Chicaga ultimately affect Obama? posted by sawyer on December 13, 2008 at 16:45:02:
Chicago politics are historically corrupt, going back at least 100 years or more. The state's governor--Rod Blagojevich--is only remarkable in in Chicago's political history for how blatant he was in his attempt to sell Obama's vacated senate seat to the highest bidder.
Early in the primary races, vice-president elect Joe Biden took a lot of heat for describing Obama as "clean." He used this word in a sentence that started with "the first mainstream African-American..." There was lots of speculation about whether using the word "clean" to describe Obama was some sort of racial slur. I always thought Biden meant Obama was not tainted by Chicago's political culture.
Obama reportedly has held Gov. Blagojevich at arm's length ever since he (Blagojevich) was elected in 2002. Blagojevich has a widespread reputation for being something of a nutjob. Some commentators have speculated that a major reason Obama decided to run in 2008 after only one term as Illinois senator was to get out of the cesspool of Chicago/Illinois politics as quickly as possible. He's has been swimming in those murky waters since 1997. Obama has already had plenty of trouble with "guilt by association" because of William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright, two Chicagoans he didn't hold at arm's length.
This history of Chicago politics is interesting. See: