Pressing the Question

At the Huffington Post, Bob Cesca mocks the efforts to tie Obama to the gubernatorial mess:

"We've seen this show before: specious attempts to connect Barack Obama with corrupt or controversial figures in Chicago, followed, then, by a Republican and establishment media outcry for the president-elect to denounce and reject them . . .

"It began Wednesday with the RNC demanding to know the full extent of the president-elect's relationship with Blagojevich even though Patrick Fitzgerald was perfectly clear about the relationship when he said on national television that the president-elect had nothing to do with any of it. But to suggest that the former junior senator from Illinois never communicated with the governor of Illinois is ridiculous on its face -- of course there was the usual level of professional communication there, though it entirely fails to prove or even implicate any corruption on the part of Barack Obama. Then again, since when does reality matter?

"Meanwhile, the Politico and numerous other news organizations have been attempting to make this the first 'scandal' of the Obama presidency as if Blagojevich is somehow a member of the transition or an appointee to the future administration."

The very same Politico suggests the Dems are on a losing streak:

"After three nearly uninterrupted years of favorable political news, Democrats have finally hit a rough patch. Over a period of less than 10 days, Democrats have seen their nominee go down in defeat in the Georgia Senate runoff -- eliminating the prospect of a filibuster-proof majority -- lost two winnable House races in Louisiana and witnessed House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) sink deeper into ethics trouble. Then there's the still-unfolding Illinois Senate debacle, which exposed Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich's tawdry attempts to auction off President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat and forced Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) to hold a press conference Wednesday denying any inappropriate discussions with the governor. Democrats aren't exactly disheartened by these developments -- they're still set to control the entire federal government in January -- but the streak of bad news has tempered the party's post-election euphoria. And the string of post-Election Day congressional wins has given the GOP some of its first good news in a long time."

But Steve Benen flips the question at the Washington Monthly, asking how each party has dealt with its errant members:

"Four years ago, shortly after national elections, Republicans were forced to deal with the criminal indictment of a high-profile member -- Tom DeLay. One of the House GOP caucus' first major moves after the elections was to agree, behind closed doors, to change the rule forbidding those under indictment from holding leadership posts in the party. (Embarrassed, they later changed their minds.) Republican officials also defended the accused and lashed out, in a coordinated effort, against the prosecutor.

"Four years later, shortly after national elections, Democrats have been forced to deal with the criminal indictment of a high-profile member -- Rod Blagojevich. One of the Senate Democratic caucus' first major moves after the elections was to agree, with full transparency, that they don't want anything to do with the scandal-plagued governor."

National Review's Victor Davis Hanson says the media fell down on the job:

"Far too much about far more important things about Obama in his Chicago years were simply off limits: the disturbing legal action in his state campaign that eliminated all opponents by having African-American petitioners declared null and void, the mysterious leaking of sealed divorce papers to eliminate the Democratic Senate rival, and the lightning-strikes-twice reoccurrence of that in the general election against his likely Republican opponent. When collated with the Chicago Circle (Rezko, Wright, Pfleger, Ayers, Khalidi, etc.) his past was a lot to swallow. But no matter -- the election is over, and that was then.

"Yet now, rather than pursuing leads the last few weeks about the swirling rumors concerning Blago, the media continues to discourse on their Constitutional frustration that President-elect Obama simply could not assume power right now! To outsiders, they all seem eager to audition for parts in a Sophoclean tragedy of their own making."