Prometheus 6

The Latest From Illinois

First, Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois was overheard by prosecutors trying to auction off the United States Senate seat just vacated by President-elect Barack Obama (for cash or post-Statehouse employment). Now the not-so-good governor has taken his hubris to new heights and the misery of Illinois citizens to new lows.

On Tuesday, he broke his postarrest seclusion, arrogantly strutting forth to announce that he has chosen Roland Burris, a former Illinois attorney general, for the job.

Mr. Burris, a Democratic veteran who should know better, made the mistake of gratefully accepting — as if anything having to do with Mr. Blagojevich were not lethally tainted.

The Democratic leadership of the Senate instantly and correctly rejected the appointment. “It will ultimately not stand,” said Harry Reid, the majority leader. He made it clear that the issue was not Mr. Burris’s qualifications, but Gov. Blagojevich’s standing as a desperate ward heeler who’s lost all credibility.

This editorial is fascinating. It excoriates Blago, but nowhere does it assert any laws were broken.

It's more than possible Blogo intended to actually sell the seat, but it's equally possible he was "working the room" for contributions to his campaign war chest. Which also amounts to selling the seat, but in language that makes it totally legal. I have no doubt the exact same self-interested sentiment is at play in 90 percent or so of all political appointments.

The ting to learn is that Democrats are acting against Blago for running afoul of the rules of etiquette. It's like, if politics were a highway, Blago were zipping in and out of the traffic, switching lanes at the first opening that will let him pass someone. You don't want folks doing that because, though legal, it snarls up the traffic...and if everyone who is in a hurry does it no one will get anywhere. If the highway patrol sees it, they're very likely to pull the guy over on one of those nebulous charges that are probably invented on the spot.

Blago seems to be leaning on the raw structure of the law.

If it works he will have a salary and the power of the office, but that will be a far cry from the influence he wielded a month ago. As Cory Booker and Deval Patrick found out the office puts you in a position to do things that you must earn the influence to actually achieve...and you earn that influence in social, not legal, ways. I started to say Kwame M. Kilpatrick is the best example of someone who did not learn that fast enough, but he's just a really visible example. I think Elliot Spitzer is the best example. He's so screwed that when he did that op-ed in the Washington Post on Nov. 16, Dianne Sawyer was interviewing the call girl that got him thrown out of office on national television no more t han two days later (since it only took five days to get it on the air). William Jefferson is another visible example. And now Blago.

These cases are not really about laws being broken, even when that's the lever used to move someone. Here's your confessed hooker:

Blago needs to keep this picture in mind. That office can only protect him but so much.