Chicagoist's "Top 10 of 2010:" #2 - Blago
By Chuck Sudo in News on Dec 30, 2010 4:00PM
Back in May I was with friends dining at Opart Thai in Lincoln Square when we ran out of booze between the appetizers and entrees. I went to the liquor store next door to replenish the beer when I came face-to-face with former Governor Sound Bite hisself. Rod Blagojevich was with younger daughter Annie, dressed in a green polo shirt with the Cubs logo and jeans, buying some Yellow Tail wine for his own dinner and holding court with a rapt audience of two - the store's owners. He paid for his wine, shook the owners' hands, patted me on the shoulder and said he couldn't wait for his trial to start. "Soon, everyone will know that the truth is on our side," Blagojevich said, not a hair out of place on his vain little head. It was then that I realized that Rod Blagojevich was a born politician, now barred by state law from doing the job he was born to do best. Blagojevich doesn't know how to do anything else but be a politician.
Another thing about Blagojevich the politician: he can't seem to shut it off. It may explain why Blagojevich seemed to gain energy from the trial. If there was a camera, a recorder or a crowd of people calling Blagojevich's name, he would be drawn to it like a moth to a flame, and he used every opportunity in front of a camera (whether in front of the Dirksen Federal Building or on "Celebrity Apprentice") to argue his defense as deftly as his legal team, led by Sam Adam Sr. and Jr., was able to cast enough doubt with the jury to deadlock on 23 of the 24 charges filed against Blagojevich.
Blagojevich was in campaign mode everywhere, even when jogging past a kickball game. Barred from public office, Blagojevich found out of the box ways to make a living, whether as a reality show contestant, writing a book, or as a pistachio nut pitchman.
Blagojevich may have done all this to make a living and (stay out of jail), but in the process he became an even greater laughing stock. When his retrial starts in April — without the Adams — he's going to have to draw upon the entire might of his charm in order to survive.