The Obamanator Fails To Condemn Modest Rod

4:51 pm, 8/27/06

The Obamanator Fails To Condemn Modest Rod
Barack Obama, a Chicago Democrat, is worried about corruption.

In Kenya.

"Corruption has been pervasive in this country. It's considered one of the 20 most corrupt nations on earth in terms of just daily interactions, everything from the top of the government all the way down to the bureaucratic... at the airports," Obama said.

Meanwhile, the Governor of Obama's state, Rod Blagojevich, appears to be illegally using state employees to respond to the budget proposals of political opponent Judy Baar Topinka. When pressed on the matter, Blagojevich responded that his budget director was "on vacation" during the press conference.

Dan Curry has been reviewing Governor Blagojevich's income statements.

So, in aggregate, Rod has accepted at least $12,000 in gifts the past three years and won't say what he accepted. Cash? A car? A boat? Let your imagination run wild, because our "reform" governor refuses to tell you.

The man has great friends, and, according to the filing, those friends are almost all people you know by name from reading this blog.

In other news, an angry Blagojevich says he's kind of like Lincoln, but not in a sacrilegious way.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich angrily lashed out at the Springfield press corps Friday, repeatedly calling them "sharks" while comparing himself to Abraham Lincoln.

The Chicago Democrat, making a rare appearance in the capital city to open the Illinois State Fair, defended his administration's handling of claims of corruption in state hiring.

"I just feel good about how we do things. You guys, take a look at the real facts and get the real story," Blagojevich testily told reporters.

Asked whether he was aware if his office had not, as of 2004, imposed a "blind" hiring system that would keep politics out of the hiring process, a clearly irate Blagojevich said he has other things to worry about.

"Do you think I get up every single day wasting my time doing that? I get up trying to get health care done for people, education funding, create jobs, stuff that people care about," said Blagojevich.

Asked whether his own office broke hiring rules, the governor said, "I'm not involved in those things."

"Look, I'm modest. You want me to pat myself on the back? I'm not going to do that," he said.

"Not every military initiative from the Union Army was successful. It took a while to kind of get that together and get it right. But the whole purpose of what they were trying to do was absolutely right, keeping the country together and then emancipating the slaves and providing freedom to millions and millions of people," Blagojevich said.

Modest.