US politics - BlagoGate: Obama’s Burden
At a news conference just now, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald made very clear that he had uncovered no evidence of misbehavior on the part of Barack Obama. "I should be clear that the complaint makes no allegations whatsoever about the president-elect or his conduct," he said. But he also made clear that his investigation was hardly complete. He still needed "to find out what happened." And he said, as a policy, that the U.S. Attorney office is not in the business of "giving clean bills of health." That's the reason that the fall of Gov. Rod Blagojevich is going to continue to haunt Obama, not to mention Chicago's Democratic establishment where he built his roots. The President of the United States has a higher burden than just about any elected official anywhere. His staff will be called on by the press to account for all their conversations with Blagojevich and his aides. Obama will have to explain what he knew about these discussions. The bit players in the complaint, like the unnamed Senate Candidate 1 and Senate Candidate 5, will have to come forward and explain their involvement. If the investigation continues into next year, which seems likely, there may even be calls for the appointment of something like an independent counsel at the Justice Department to avoid any hint of political interference. Obama's staff and political allies may be forced to get attorneys of their own.Politics, like life, is not fair.
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