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Forums - General Discussion - Obama Calls on Illinois Governor to Resign

Looks like he isn't willing to spare even Democrats who are [potentially] corrupt.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/10/obama.blagojevich/index.html

(CNN) -- President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday called for Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to resign, a day after Blagojevich's arrest on corruption charges.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, left, and Barack Obama attend a 2007 rally for Chicago's 2016 Olympics bid.

"The president-elect agrees with [Illinois] Lt. Gov. [Pat] Quinn and many others that under the current circumstances it is difficult for the governor to effectively do his job and serve the people of Illinois," Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

FBI agents on Tuesday arrested Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, on federal corruption charges related in part to the selection of Obama's successor to the Senate.

Obama's former partner in the Senate, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, has also called on Blagojevich to step down immediately.

"Beyond guilt or innocence, the charges against you raise serious questions about your ability to carry out your duties as chief executive of our state," Durbin wrote in a letter sent to Blagojevich. 

Durbin also asked Blagojevich not to name a successor to Obama.

"Because of the nature of the charges against you, no matter whom you were to select, that individual would be under a cloud of suspicion. That would not serve our state, our nation, or the United States Senate," Durbin wrote.

Even if Blagojevich named a replacement for Obama, it is unclear whether the Senate would seat the governor's choice. The Constitution gives the Senate the sole authority to decide who is qualified to serve as a senator. Watch whom Blagojevich has considered »

Gibbs said Obama also supported legislation that Illinois lawmakers will consider next week to authorize a special election to choose his successor. Explainer: Illinois governors in hot water »

Obama believes the lawmakers should "put in place a process to select a new senator that will have the trust and confidence of the people of Illinois," Gibbs said.

The Illinois Legislature will begin a special session Monday to consider legislation that would authorize a special election to choose Obama's successor.

Cindy Davidsmeyer, a spokeswoman for Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, said a House committee was scheduled to consider the bill Monday afternoon and then the full House would vote afterward. 

The Senate could consider the legislation as soon as the next day, Davidsmeyer said. 

Obama on Tuesday declined to comment on the arrest, saying, "Like the rest of the people of Illinois I am saddened and sobered by the news that came out of the U.S. attorney's office."

Obama also said he had not contacted Blagojevich about his possible successor, adding, "I was not aware of what was happening." 

But Obama adviser David Axelrod told a Chicago television station in November that Obama had spoken to the governor about his successor.

Axelrod corrected himself Tuesday, saying, that the president-elect and Blagojevich "did not then or at any time discuss the subject."



We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.  The only thing that really worried me was the ether.  There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke

It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...."  Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson

Around the Network

Good. Obama is above the fray.. he won't be tainted by this.



I find it weird that he had no clue what was going on when the guy is accused with offering Obama the chance to pick his successor for a Job in Obama's government.

So... he was working through an official that never mentioned it to Obama? Which one... why isn't he being fired?



How do you know that Obama didn't provide evidence? You don't know either way.



I would cite regulation, but I know you will simply ignore it.

Kasz216 said:
I find it weird that he had no clue what was going on when the guy is accused with offering Obama the chance to pick his successor for a Job in Obama's government.

So... he was working through an official that never mentioned it to Obama? Which one... why isn't he being fired?

Just because an official was in contact with the governor doesn't mean that the official did anything wrong.

That being said, Obama has pulled the classic "no comment" routine rather than saying that he will release information soon.  Kind of against his transparent government policy.  Hopefully the situation will right itself quickly.

Rumors are that David Axelrod was in contact with the governor, but once again just because an official was working with the governor doesn't mean the official did anything wrong.  The RNC is calling for Obama to release any communication records.

 



We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.  The only thing that really worried me was the ether.  There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke

It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...."  Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson

Around the Network

The FBI will level more charges against more people or not and it will have to be proven in court... I just hope this doesn't end like so many other scandals where once he resigns the charges are dropped. I am so tired of them ruining people's lives/careers and then not proving any wrong doing and never actually punishing the guilty.



I would cite regulation, but I know you will simply ignore it.

damkira said:
Good. Obama is above the fray.. he won't be tainted by this.

 

 Yup, Obama the only honest Chicago politician confirmed.

Obama working for him in 2002 and endorsing him in 2006 was just a youthful indiscretion.



Yet, today, America's leaders are reenacting every folly that brought these great powers [Russia, Germany, and Japan] to ruin -- from arrogance and hubris, to assertions of global hegemony, to imperial overstretch, to trumpeting new 'crusades,' to handing out war guarantees to regions and countries where Americans have never fought before. We are piling up the kind of commitments that produced the greatest disasters of the twentieth century.
 — Pat Buchanan – A Republic, Not an Empire

Tyrannical said:
damkira said:
Good. Obama is above the fray.. he won't be tainted by this.

 

 Yup, Obama the only honest Chicago politician confirmed.

Obama working for him in 2002 and endorsing him in 2006 was just a youthful indiscretion.

Name one great President who had no connections whatsoever to corrupt politicians.

 



We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.  The only thing that really worried me was the ether.  There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke

It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...."  Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson

akuma587 said:
Tyrannical said:
damkira said:
Good. Obama is above the fray.. he won't be tainted by this.

 

 Yup, Obama the only honest Chicago politician confirmed.

Obama working for him in 2002 and endorsing him in 2006 was just a youthful indiscretion.

Name one great President who had no connections whatsoever to corrupt politicians.

 

 

 Teddy Roosevelt, greatest president evar.



Yet, today, America's leaders are reenacting every folly that brought these great powers [Russia, Germany, and Japan] to ruin -- from arrogance and hubris, to assertions of global hegemony, to imperial overstretch, to trumpeting new 'crusades,' to handing out war guarantees to regions and countries where Americans have never fought before. We are piling up the kind of commitments that produced the greatest disasters of the twentieth century.
 — Pat Buchanan – A Republic, Not an Empire

Tyrannical said:
damkira said:
Good. Obama is above the fray.. he won't be tainted by this.

 

 Yup, Obama the only honest Chicago politician confirmed.

Obama working for him in 2002 and endorsing him in 2006 was just a youthful indiscretion.

 

Of course Obama endorsed him in 2006, he was the Democratic nominee.. and that was well before he tried to auction off OBAMA's vacant senate seat.