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Obama Was Interested in Senate Successor After All
December 23, 2008 6:20 PM
ABC News’ Rick Klein Reports: Among the very many interesting tidbits in President-elect Barack Obama’s report on staff contacts with Gov. Rod Blagojevich, there’s this from the portion on Obama himself (emphasis mine):
“After [Valerie] Jarrett decided on November 9, 2008 to withdraw her name from consideration as a possible replacement for him in the Senate and to accept the White House job, the President-Elect discussed other qualified candidates with David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel. Those candidates included Representatives Jan Schakowsky and Jesse Jackson, Jr., Dan Hynes and Tammy Duckworth. The President-Elect understood that Rahm Emanuel would relay these names to the Governor’s office as additions to the pool of qualified candidates who might already be under consideration. Mr. Emanuel subsequently confirmed to the President that he had in fact relayed these names. At no time in the discussion of the Senate seat or of possible replacements did the President-Elect hear of a suggestion that the Governor expected a personal benefit in return for making this appointment to the Senate.”
To clarify, then: This was not just idle talk between the president-elect and his top aides. This discussion of specific candidates was taking place with the expectation that the governor would be told about Obama’s preferences. And Rahm Emanuel did as he was told, in conversations with Blagojevich’s then chief of staff.
There is nothing untoward or even unexpected about that. As the report seeks to make clear, neither Obama nor Emanuel nor anyone else in the Obama inner circle was engaged in any horse-trading or pay-for-play schemes with Blagojevich.
Still, this is a level of interest and involvement in his Senate seat that Obama has not admitted to publicly.
Compare this to what Obama said Nov. 7 -- three days after the election -- when asked by a Chicago Tribune reporter the extent to which he would use his “probably pretty great influence in determining the successor for your Senate seat.”
Obama: “This is the governor's decision. It is not my decision. And I think that the criteria that I would have for my successor would be the same criteria that I'd have if I were a voter: somebody who is capable, somebody who is passionate about helping working families in Illinois meet their -- meet their dreams. And I think there are going to be a lot of good choices out there. But it is the governor's decision to make, not mine.”
And here’s what David Axelrod said two weeks ago, at a forum at Harvard:
“There's a vacancy the governor apparently -- if you believe the complaint from the government -- had some ideas about what to do with it. We were not involved in that discussion or any discussion of that nature,” Axelrod said.
True enough, according to the report. But doesn’t this leave a bit of a different impression of Obama’s role in all of this than turns out to be the case? Could it be that Obama wasn’t above playing a bit of -- gasp! -- politics?
December 23, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (163)
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I is very appropriate for President Obama to be interested in who fills his seat. Each party does this, just as President Bush was except he already had a republican Lt.governor. So please tell me what did Obama lie about? Greg the only porn was when those perverted republicans was trying to have sex with men and fresh out of high school boys.
Posted by: sara wilson | Dec 23, 2008 8:34:41 PM
CHEESE, we need CHEESE for all this whining about Obama. If you whiners would spend as much effort on cleaning your own house, helping your neighbor and praying for peace you might feel good about yourselves. Most of us aren't over complaining about Bush, Cheney and whatshisname, so temper it please and let us continue to grumble about the past 8 years and work toward changing this country back to respectability.
Posted by: Yankee | Dec 23, 2008 8:42:05 PM
Grow up and care about the world, children dying, something that matters. Politicians are who they are. People with their head in the sand obsessing about stains on dresses and not wars are killing our world, and your grandkids will hold you responsible.
Posted by: Elaine Broskie | Dec 23, 2008 8:42:29 PM
Sara, you're then equating sex with legal aged men and/or women, perverted?
Your sex life must be quite the party! Oiy!
What did he lie about? LOL! Apparently you don't know the difference between telling a lie and telling the truth even when the words are right in front of you on this blog by the author, myself and other bloggers. How rich!
You probably think the Republicans held the house and senate the last 2 years, too, I'll bet.
Posted by: Greg | Dec 23, 2008 8:43:04 PM
GREG---"His anger at BO was about BO not holding up his part of whatever bargain was made." there was no agreement, Greg. what part of no agreement do you not get?
and that's cool about the pic at the beach but what it's doing on a professional news website is beyond. i like ABC not People ragazine. blame that on ABC not Obama. if you think it's pornography you need to talk to a senator from Idaho who will do the tap-tap with his foot and rub your ankle.
Posted by: Paul Wall | Dec 23, 2008 8:43:15 PM
Greg, "perverted" not at all! it's cool to be gay. Craig got busted for public solicitation---not so cool.
Posted by: Paul Wall | Dec 23, 2008 8:45:22 PM
Elaine, your comments are appalling.
To care about who is taking the office of one of the most powerful positions in the world, IS caring about the world. This person will affect the system for generations, you twit!
Why don't you try living your life at no cost to others without their consent.
Posted by: Greg | Dec 23, 2008 8:45:47 PM
Paul, I find it interesting that you can't focus on the person we're talking about, but instead, attempt to distract by pointing to someone else's behavior.
It's not porn to the extent of the what the person viewing it is doing with it.
Now, why else would all this hoopla be going on about his shirtless pic, unless....what?
Gimme a break. You know damn well that the picture was posted to incite swooning by his idiot supporters, mostly women, to keep the charade alive.
Posted by: Greg | Dec 23, 2008 8:49:09 PM
There IS NO STORY HERE. Its sad that the news has to make up stuff through innuendo because otherwise what would they have to write about. An honest politician...couldn't be. Why not make something up out of whole cloth? Its not beneath you to do so.
Posted by: David Sher | Dec 23, 2008 8:50:34 PM
Greg: Please stop attacking Elaine for her compassion about what she considers far more important issues. You have yours, allow her the same courtesy.
And, just what in the world does this statement mean and how do you accomplish such a task?
"Why don't you try living your life at no cost to others without their consent."
Posted by: Yankee | Dec 23, 2008 8:52:30 PM
this is trivia---all of it, at best. can you imagine winning the presidency, trying to put your team together and remeber every converstation you had about every topic?
i honestly think he meant no deal-making occured and that he did not talk to anyone on the governor's staff, much less the governor.
subsequently he said that someone on his staff may have spoken about the senate position.
he has maintained consistently that he nor anyone on his staff ever made any king of deal whatsoever. a wishlist does not an illegal deal make.
Posted by: Paul Wall | Dec 23, 2008 8:52:43 PM
I find it interesting that you think that public solicitation isn't "cool" and yet every single bar in this nation is replete with people doing their best at public solicitation.
So, someone doesn't like the setting, so what! LOL!
Afraid of seeing what you don't want to see; hearing what you don't want to hear!
Oh, I see, it's cause it was a public restroom instead of a bar, or mall, or church, or grocery store, or school, or work place, or.... yeah, we get it.
Posted by: Greg | Dec 23, 2008 8:52:52 PM
Yankee, who's minding your business while you're so busy minding everyone else's?
This is what free speech is all about, unless you have a problem with people having freedom.
Do you have a problem with people having freedom? do you, human hater?
Why don't you take your controlling, regulation liberal stupidity somewhere else, you trog.
liberals are ANYTHING but liberal! True to form Yankee! True to form!
Posted by: Greg | Dec 23, 2008 8:56:05 PM
Wow! What a stretch. Face it, Obama did nothing wrong, therefore, no fault was found.
Posted by: Craig | Dec 23, 2008 8:57:05 PM
"And, just what in the world does this statement mean and how do you accomplish such a task?
"Why don't you try living your life at no cost to others without their consent."
LOL! Spoken like a true liberal.
Are you that stupid you can't figure it out!
If every choice you make in life is not at a cost to another human being without his or her consent, how easy would life be?
Think about all your choices where you seek to control, manipulate, regulate or shut down others because of your personal subjective perspective in life!
Get a clue.
make your choices in life, personal and subjective as each one of them is, without infringing on someone else's life; not taking their money, their time, their freedoms.
Posted by: Greg | Dec 23, 2008 8:59:49 PM
i agree with you Greg. the state of Minnesota has a law against it. people going to bars go to bars in hopes of meeting someone for dare we say sexual encounters. when was the last time you cruised a public restroom for sex? i mean no disrespect to you. but it's ludicrous.
i think heterosexuals are lucky in this sense. they can flirt and pick-up at the mall, the church, school and work. can you imagine a gay person doing that? they'd risk a split lip at least and fractured skull or worse.
Posted by: Paul Wall | Dec 23, 2008 9:00:10 PM
Who cares whether Obama lied or not.
No one has died because of Obama's lie.
Bush lied and more than 4,000 brave Americans are dead.
What do you hypocrit Republicans have to say about that?
Posted by: Steve_NJ | Dec 23, 2008 9:00:35 PM
OMG! A prez-elect has the audacity to suggest who he or she would want to take his or her vacant seat! Conspiracy be damned! The sky's falling! THE SKY'S FALLING!
Posted by: Dallas | Dec 23, 2008 9:06:58 PM
this is just media b.s. without the drama making there is no story. what Obama said last week was confirmed today. that we as a nation could go into the holidays and make it to inauguration without this pathetic non-story is sad indeed. i guess people want it. the media thrives on this, sound bites, blogs, hot tempers, pitting liberals against conservatives when they aren't that far apart.
Posted by: Paul Wall | Dec 23, 2008 9:09:43 PM
Ol Bare-back promised "change".
Looks like there was a footnote we missed. No change. Just another liar.
So he dupes his sheep with a prepared picture and they buy the distraction. Freshly waxed even, just to make it even more better for those sheep.
Posted by: Bare-back Bama | Dec 23, 2008 9:11:31 PM
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