Obama: Blagojevich Should Resign
By Doug Mataconis | Related entries in News
Barack Obama has joined the chorus of those calling on the Governor of Illinois to step down:
President-elect Barack Obama believes that Gov. Rod Blagojevich should resign, his advisers said on Wednesday. “The President-elect agrees with Lt. Gov. 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,” Robert Gibbs, the incoming White House press secretary, said.
(…)
Gibbs said that Obama believes the Illinois general assembly should now take control of the issue of picking a new U.S. Senator for Illinois. The assembly is expected to reconvene next week to debate whether to hold a special election to fill the seat. The assembly should “consider the issue and put in place a process to select a new senator that will have the trust and confidence of the people of Illinois,” Gibbs said.
Blagojevich would have to be possessed of an astounding amount of arrogance and stupidity to believe that he has any choice but to step down at this point.
We’ve seen this before.
Back in April it was nearly three days from the time when Elliot Spitzer was first linked to a prostitution ring to the time that he stepped in front of cameras to resign as New York’s Governor. At this point, we’re in Day Two for Blagojevich, and if Hot Rod were your typical politician, I’d expect a resignation by Friday afternoon.
But it’s fairly clear that Blagojevich is no typical politician and this is not your typical political scandal. He may just hold on to office until the Illinois legislature drags him out of there.
Cross-posted at Below The Beltway
This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
December 10th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Yeah if Eliot Spitzer had to resign for simply playing with an escort, then Blagojevich ought to be preparing his resignation speech right now.
December 10th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
I agree with the conclusion that Blago won’t resign any time soon. His office is his best bargaining chip with prosecutors, since resignation might be taken into account, even informally, as an element of punishment. On top of that, Blago retains a wide range of powers as Governor that he can continue to use to help his case and try to win over some portion of the Illinois public.
The legislature can move to impeach him, but that’s a drawn out process and one that many legislators who have dealt with Blago politically might not find attractive, given the airing of dirty linen involved.
Meanwhile, he still retains the power to appoint Obama’s successor and even that could conceivably still be turned to his advantage.
December 10th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
I agree with the conclusion that Blago won’t resign any time soon. His office is his best bargaining chip with prosecutors, since resignation might be taken into account, even informally, as an element of punishment. On top of that, Blago retains a wide range of powers as Governor that he can continue to use to help his case and try to win over some portion of the Illinois public.
The legislature can move to impeach him, but that’s a drawn out process and one that many legislators who have dealt with Blago might not find attractive.
Meanwhile, he still retains the power to appoint Obama’s successor and even that could conceivably still be turned to his advantage.
December 10th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
he is definitely that arrogant! whenever he’s been on the local news in the past yaer or two it’s cringeworthy.
December 10th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
“Should the state members of the Electoral College cast their votes for Mr. Obama in the face of such overwhelming evidence, and without verification of Mr. Obama’s eligibility, they would be committing treason to the Constitution,” said Schulz.
Monday’s P.M. Press Conference…
Where is It?
December 12th, 2008 at 8:07 am
Is this going to be Obama’s “I did not have sexual relations with that woman” episode?