President-elect Barack Obama is finding that Chicago politics is a hazardous game.

From the Politico

He was elected president on a promise of “transparency” but barely five weeks later, Barack Obama is scrambling to meet his first big test on openness.

Obama’s campaign lawyer Bob Bauer is taking a leading role in conducting what one top aide described as “an internal review” stopping short of a full-blown investigation.

The goal is simple and urgent: find who talked with disgraced Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and when – and precisely what they said.

But it’s also loaded with hazards. They need to make sure they meet Obama’s vow to release findings “in a few days.” More importantly, they need to make sure they don’t miss something that could come back to bite them later.

In trying to meet the first rule of Washington scandal-management – get the facts out on your own terms, and fast – Obama may have promised something he’ll later regret, one expert warned.

“What they’re doing is either setting themselves up for inconsistencies, or creating a cache of evidence that otherwise wouldn’t exist. It never helps when you dig up the dirt in your own yard and you find stuff,” said Stan Brand, a top Washington defense lawyer.

Presumably, the internal probe is focusing predominantly on advisers with Chicago roots or prior relationships to Blagojevich. That would include some of the very closest advisers to Obama personally – all people who will have top White House jobs.

The big problem for Obama is that his that many of his closest advisers have ties to Blagojevich and is casting a pall over his presidency before it even begins.

 

Share This

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

About the author