Barack and Blago

Carol Platt Liebau | December 09, 2008 10:41 PM

It's entirely foreseeable that the Obama team would be working hard to distance the President-elect from the allegedly corrupt Governor of Illinois. And it may be that Obama is purer than Caesar's wife.

But there are a few questions that remain unanswered, as this linked piece points out. First, of course, there are the comments from David Axelrod (now retracted) that Obama had spoken directly to Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy. Hm. And then, there's the fact that the Governor said (in one of the tapped discussions) that Obama wanted his friend Valerie Jarrett appointed to the seat. If he never had discussions with Obama, when and how and by whom did he come by this information?

Could it be through Michael Strautmanis, a top aide to Obama, who once worked for Blagojevich? Guess who he works for now? As Chief of Staff to "presidential assistant for intergovernmental relations." And who's that? You guessed it . . . Valerie Jarrett (who later took herself out of the running).

It would, at least, be interesting to know exactly how all of this has come about. Will the press insist on answers from Obama? Don't count on it.