Culture Of Corruption: Obama’s Obliviousness To Chicago Politicians By Herb Denenberg

Source: http://www.thebulletin.us/articles/2008/12/15/commentary/herb_denenberg/doc4941e73f03804970741192.txt

Monday, December 15, 2008

Everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence. But there’s also a presumption that when you emerge from the cesspool of Chicago politics, you don’t come out perfectly clean. That’s where President-elect Barack Obama came from, so buyer beware. There’s also a presumption that anything that might cast even a slight negative light on Mr. Obama or the Democratic Party was censored out by the mainstream media, which only post-election is discovering the nature of the political environment that produced the next president of the United States.

Where are House Majority Leader Rep. Nancy “San Francisco Values?” Ms. Pelosi, D-Calif., and her campaign against the culture of corruption when we need her? You’ll recall that was her theme song when a bunch of Republicans were in trouble, but that’s all forgotten now with the parade of

Democratic wrongdoers capped by one of the great political scandals of modern times, Gov. Rob Blagojevich, trying to sell a senatorial appointment and about everything else. His own words establish him as so corrupt and so beyond the pale that he appalled even the people of Chicago, who have seen a long parade of governors and other politicians go to jail. This latest scandal has been called a political corruption crime spree unprecedented in recent political history.

But we shouldn’t forget other Democrats who have been contributing to this culture of corruption such as Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., who has been accused of accepting bribes and whose freezer was packed with cash when federal agents arrived to search his home.

Of course, we have to mention Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., head of the tax writing committee of the House, who forgets to pay his taxes and who is also under investigation for a possible payoff in exchange for contributions for a library to be named after him. Even when Democrats are impeached that doesn’t seem to stop their political career. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., was impeached as a judge but then was re-elected to Congress. He just lost in an attempt at re-election.

We have what we should have expected from Crook County Illinois, a.k.a. as Cook County Illinois, where the corrupt Chicago political machine has long held sway. And we should not forget that this swamp of corruption and criminality gave us President-elect Obama, who was part of the machine and used the machine in his rise to power and prominence. This was one of the many facts of Mr. Obama’s history ignored by the mainstream media, which censored out of the news anything that might interfere with the election of their Messiah.

Like it or not, the president-elect is right in the middle of the Blagojevich scandal. He endorsed him twice for governor, and the second time around there were already strong indications that Mr. Blagojevich was under criminal investigation, but that didn’t stop the endorsement. Even the well-known Democratic pollster and pundit, Pat Cadell, admitted that in Chicago, politicians all know what’s going on in their domain. (This is the same Mr. Obama who entered into a corrupt land deal with felon and slumlord Tony Rezko even when it was well known that he was under criminal investigation.) We should also remember that President-elect Obama had questionable dealings with Mr. Blagojevich’s bagman, Tony Rezko, involving the corrupt real estate transaction that still has not been fully investigated but raises serious questions about Mr. Obama’s financial transactions.

Finally, we should remember that when an attempt was made to reform the Crook County political machine, Mr. Obama was asked by the reformers to help out, but instead sat on the sidelines, and in effect endorsed the most corrupt and crooked political machine in America.

There is even a question about President-elect Obama’s connection with the Senate-for-sale scandal. In a statement, Mr. Obama said he was saddened and sobered by what happened, whatever that means. He also said of the Senate appointment, “I had no contact with the governor or his office…” Notice he did not say if a representative of his office was in contact with the governor. But that claim was directly contradicted by his spokesman, senior political adviser and alter ego, David Axelrod, who made a clear statement that the two had discussed the appointment.

Mr. Axelrod said spoke about contacts of the senator with the governor about the senatorial appointment as follows: “I know he’s talking to the governor and there are a whole range of names many of which have surfaced, and I think he has a fondness for a lot of them.” Now Mr. Axelrod claimed he “misspoke,” which fits into the category of the greatest political lies ever told along with “It was taken out of context.”

The prosecutors didn’t accuse Mr. Obama of any wrongdoing in making their announcement. However, they did not exonerate him either. But we don’t have the full story yet, and I must say that Mr. Obama’s denial of any contact with Gov. Blagojevich about the senatorial appointment has to be taken with more than a grain of salt. The president-elect has a long history of being caught up in questionable associations and than trying to lie out of the problem.

He didn’t know what the Rev. Jeremiah “God Damn America” Wright was up to, even after sitting in his church for 20 years, even after working with him and naming one of his books after one of his sermons, and even after initially seeking him out as soon as Mr. Obama arrived in Chicago. And terrorist Mr. Ayers was just a guy in the neighborhood, with Mr. Obama attempting to conveniently forget they worked for years closely on Mr. Ayers’ radical education projects and that Mr. Obama funneled millions of dollars in grant money to Mr. Ayers. And he was in the dark about convicted felon and close associate Tony Rezko, the racist and bigot Father Michael Pfleger, and terrorist Bernadine Dohrn, Mr. Ayers’ wife, and the anti-Semite and bigot, Rev. Louis Farrakhan. Should we believe Mr. Obama’s denial of any contact on the Senate matter or his spokesman, David Axelrod? My answer is heavily influenced by the Mr. Obama history of lying about such associates as Rev. Wright, the racist and bigot, and terrorist Mr. Ayers.

Dennis Miller, the radio talk show host put it perfectly when he said this guy (Obama) is supposed to be the smartest guy on the planet yet he is always oblivious to what his close associates are doing. Comedian Jackie Mason said Mr. Obama wasn’t there and when he was there he wasn’t listening. I still prefer my formulation: Mr. Obama is either the biggest liar in the world or the biggest idiot. My guess is it’s the former, and not the latter.

But even Gov. Blagojevich’s political crime spree did not wake President-elect Obama up to the corruption of his political machine. Even with that news, the president-elect, as noted, was saddened and sober…but not sad and sober enough to condemn Gov. Blagojevich’s conduct in the strongest possible terms. Later, when pressure starting building, Mr. Obama called on Mr. Blagojevich to resign joining a long list. Recall how long it took him to denounce Rev. Wright.

There are equally disturbing developments from the new administration’s cabinet selections. One is the nomination of Eric Holder to be our next attorney general. Even Mr. Holder’s disgraceful participation in the pardon of the fugitive and fraud artist Marc Rich is not the most serious problem. Mr. Holder also approved the pardon of 16 FALN terrorists. They hadn’t even applied for clemency. But they were pardoned apparently to help Hillary Clinton, then running for the Senate in New York, to get the Puerto Rican vote. Mr. Holder also supported the commutation of the sentences of two Weather Underground terrorists. At a time when we are in a battle with Islamofascist terrorism for our very survival, do we really want an attorney general who seems to specialize in giving free passes to unrepentant terrorists, even over the objection of the FBI and his own Department of Justice?

But all that may not be the worst consequence of the Mr. Holder nomination. He was part of the Clinton Administration’s approach of viewing terrorism as merely a matter for criminal prosecution without the realization that the Islamofascists have declared war against the U.S. and Western civilization. The failed Clinton prosecution approach gave us 9/11, and the Holder appointment is not the first indication of an Obama adoption of the discredited Clinton approach to terrorism.

His other legal appointments are no cause for rejoicing, either. He named Greg Craig as White House counsel. As the National Review (Dec. 15) points out he is a veteran anti-anti-Communist. He helped Ted Kennedy organize hearings to defame the Contras in their struggle against Nicaragua’s Sandinista regime (the leftist Marxist-Leninist-Communist regime) in the 1980s. Later, he represented the father of Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy who was taken from his family at gunpoint and sent back to Cuba. That was contrary to the wish of his mother, who gave her life trying to get the boy to the U.S. But Mr. Craig, representing the father of the boy, was instrumental in getting him sent back to Cuba.

His fees were paid by left-wing activists, but the National Review concluded, he was “for all intents and purposes a lawyer in the service of Fidel Castro.” With the press, Mr. Craig has aimed to picture himself as an idealist, but the National Review more correctly describes him as a dupe in the service of Mr. Castro.

I would not place too much hope in the new Democratic Administration clearing up the corruption issues in Illinois and the election wrongdoing still not properly investigated. For example, why hasn’t President-elect Obama indicated that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald will be allowed to continue and finish his investigation of Crook County, even after the new administration takes over? Instead, Mr. Obama has taken an almost nonchalant stance in the face of mountainous and long-standing corruption in Illinois.

Another matter that should be promptly resolved involves the abuses of public officials who invaded the privacy and violated the rights of Joe “The Plumber” Wurzelbacher, the Ohioan, whose question led then candidate Mr. Obama to admit he wanted to “spread the wealth around.” That seemed to signal a socialist approach to the American economy and became a major campaign issue.

As soon as Joe became a campaign issue, Helen Jones-Kelley, head of the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Security, launched a purely political and illegal investigation of Joe in order to discredit him. She also used her official state e-mail account to solicit political contributions for Mr. Obama, another clear violation.

Despite all that, the Ohio governor, Ted Strickland, a Democrat, did not fire her. This suggests the Democrats are willing to tolerate even firing offenses if they serve their political purposes. Needless to say, Mr. Obama maintained his silence on the matter, although he should have spoken out on a matter that directly involved his campaign and his party.

The flavor of what we are to expect from the new Democratic Party domination is also reflected in what happened during the election. I discovered, at least in my area, vandals were tearing down John McCain and Republican campaign signs, but not Mr. Obama and Democratic signs. That may tell you about the mentality of at least some liberals. And now there is another sign of this liberal disease. There is a virtual jihad directed at the Mormon Church for its support of California’s Proposition 8, which defined marriage as between one man and one woman.

For example, envelopes full of suspicious white powder have been sent to Mormon Church Headquarters. Have we reached the point where free speech is to be censored by criminals and bigots, and there seems to be no outrage from the media and politicians? One commentator said there is no public outrage over this Mormon incident, due to the widespread prejudice against the Mormon Church, which indeed is a sad commentary.

And don’t expect the mainstream media to do anything to provide fair and balanced coverage of this political scene. They are continuing to try to discredit and smear Gov. Sarah Palin, even totally fabricating allegations when necessary. And that mainstream media has given her no credit for standing up to her own political party. She was one of the first to denounce Sen. Ted Stevens, who just lost his reelection try, after being convicted of making false statement about receiving gifts from oil-service executives. She also spoke out against the state chairman of her own political party. But she got no credit for incredible political courage, but did get unremitting smears from the mainstream media.

Despite cheerleading from the mainstream media, the picture is not bright for the years ahead under a Democratic Party administration in control of the White House and both houses of Congress. At worst, we may be going the Chicago way, but at best we’re going the far-left liberal way. And what is supposed to be a transparent Obama administration may be on its way to being a stonewalling and covering up administration.

Herb Denenberg is a former Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commissioner, and professor at the Wharton School. He is a longtime Philadelphia journalist and consumer advocate. He is also a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of the Sciences. His column appears daily in The Bulletin. You can reach him at advocate@thebulletin.us.