Blago: The Peanut Gallery Weighs In

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jun 28, 2011 4:45PM

With the guilty verdicts in the Rod Blagojevich yesterday comes the after-the-fact opining from Our Town's columnists. Here are some of the better collections.

Edward McClelland, NBC Chicago Ward Room

If Blagojevich had been a talented politician, he wouldn’t have needed to grift. He would have had a good job waiting for him, at a law firm, at a lobbying firm, at a non-profit, in Obama’s cabinet. And if the job had been with a company that profited during his term in office, well, everyone has to make a living, don’t they?

Blagojevich is no more corrupt or compromised than most of the politicians in Illinois.

His mistake? The deals he was trying to make are supposed to be unspoken, or, at most, suggested with a handshake and a quiet word at a fundraiser. Blagojevich was foolish enough to speak out. He’s not going to prison because he tried to profit from his office. If that were a crime, every ex-politician would be in prison. He’s going to prison because he wasn’t smooth or smart enough to do it the right way.

Mark Brown, Sun-Times

I look around and see some positive signs that weren’t there when we first sent Blagojevich to the governor’s mansion in 2002. We seem to be electing somewhat more honest folks to high public office, for one thing, not that they’re necessarily saints but definitely upgrades. (Though I’ve got to remind myself we didn’t know how bad Blagojevich would turn out to be at first either.) We’re also seeing more structural reforms enacted, not that they go far enough.

But I also see plenty that hasn’t changed. Illinois government is still at its core a place where money talks and insiders have the upper hand. You don’t change the whole system by getting rid of the guy at the top.

James Warren, Chicago News Cooperative

The penchant for rationalization and revisionism—displayed daily in divorce courts and press offices of dictators—ran rampant during the gaper’s block that was his lengthy fall. We can now avert our eyes, and he presumably heads to prison and likely plots a rebirth fit for an age where notoriety enhances a miscreant’s magazine-cover and reality-show prospects.

But as we wag our fingers, justifiably exhausted, we forget how “the people” spoke on six occasions when asked if they wanted him as a state legislator, United States congressman and governor. And the press, which can serve a salutary policing function, was often entranced, too.

John Kass, Tribune

Blagojevich has always been nothing but an amateur, a pimple, compared with (William) Cellini's Renaissance mastery of politics and policy. Perhaps that's why they call Cellini "the Pope," as if he's some kind of Springfield Borgia.

Richard Roeper, Sun-Times

Rod Blagojevich cared a thousand times more about himself than he did about the people of Illinois.

He betrayed the voters, torpedoed his career, turned his legacy into a punchline, put his family through hell-in-a-spotlight and wound up a convicted felon.

Why?

Because being governor wasn’t good enough. Because he was in desperate need of cash. Because he thought he could cash in on a Senate seat.

Because he had sometimes insanely bizarre visions of Oprah as a senator, himself with a Cabinet post.

Because he’s a narcissist who believes he was a great governor and did nothing wrong and was railroaded.

Stella Foster, Sun-Times

Here is an assessment of the Blago trial from one legal expert, who wishes to remain anonymous: “It is not a surprise that the government won in this Blagojevich retrial. It’s clear they took the opportunity to rehearse their witnesses again and eliminated the less-convincing ones. They also fine-tuned their trial strategies by leaving out less significant evidence and narrowing their focus. At the same time, the new defense team had to start at ground zero with less money and fewer lawyers.”

AND I SAY: “That jury of 11 women and 1 man did him in.” Yeah, I said it!

Oy.