He’s gone feral. Which means he’s back in the news. Governor Rod Blagojevich has continued his recent series of surreal Friday press conferences, this week saying some truly strange things in that same strange way. It’s getting to the point where the best way to describe his approach is beyond parody. This week was just hilarity. But such well-delivered, mock-sincere, confidently-argued hilarity.
Some highlights: Speaking of the Illinois senators who will conduct his impeachment trial:”they’re just hanging me.” Responding to reporters enquiries about how his family was coping, he told them the day he was arrested was “what Pearl Harbour Day was to the United States.” He won’t attend his Senate trial, nor will he send witnesses or even an attorney, saying that to do so would itself be an “impeachable offense.” (Even when half-joking he seems fairly crazy).
And today, the news that, on Monday, he’ll make his first national TV appearance, on ABC’s Good Morning America, followed by an appearance on The View with his wife Patti (for whom it’s hard not to feel pretty sorry).
I can’t find the word: he’s not brilliant, that would be too positive. But there is something special and altogether interesting about someone so brash and defiant after having been (it would seem) so stupid and corrupt. He’ll quote Kipling and Tennyson at you. He’ll claim (as he did yesterday) that, if he’s impeached, it will lead to tax increases for Illinoisans. He’ll drag his poor wife onto The View to be gently assaulted by Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, et al. You don’t ever really believe he’s innocent, nor do you admire him. But you do think this guy knows how to work a news cycle.
My thought: When you read a bit about Blagojevich, his character and personality, all this stuff makes sense. To him, it’s a strategy. It’s part get your face out there, part say it enough and they’ll believe you’re innocent, part do what’s most ballsy. If nothing else, it’s entertaining (at least for those of us are not governed by him). He’ll be impeached, but somehow I doubt he’ll go away.
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In this new bipartisan Washington, it’s refreshing to find that President Obama hasn’t forgotten that sometimes, when push comes to shove, he has a right to try to get his own way.
Republican congressional leaders had started to get a little irritated by the stimulus package: where particular funds would go, in what form money would be given back to consumers – agreeing in principle of the need for a package but trying to fight for some concessions to report back to the caucus.
The President hosted all the Congressional leaders – Democratic and Republican – for a closed-door meeting in the Roosevelt room, across the hall from the Oval Office. Sources said he listened to their concerns, noted where they disagreed and why. Then he spoke, at length, of the need for the package, of the need to act to avert a “grave situation”.
And then, as he neared the end of his summation, he reminded his opponents matter-of-factly: “I won.”
Nice to see that 70 million popular votes still count for something.
You can tell this is a President with a very handy 68-12 approval rating. In terms of approval, that’s 4 points behind Kennedy’s after his first few days on the job. It’s 10 points ahead of Clinton, 11 ahead of his predecessor, and 17 ahead of Reagan at the same stage. Not bad considering the circumstances.
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Lastly, one for the nerds (myself included, clearly). A reporter at Huffington Post has managed to get a leaked copy of House Resolution 1, the draft stimulus bill. It’s obviously extremely long and boring, but it’s ‘fun’ to at least look at the first few pages of what will very likely become the first piece of major legislation of the Obama era.
