Is Obama Free of the Chicago Muck?

NYT Headline: "Obama's Intervention for Ethics Bill Indirectly Led to Case Against Governor"

That is right. Barack Obama -- a man mired in the swamp of Chicago Machine politics, wholehearted supporter of Rod Blagojevich, close friend of convicted criminal Tony Rezko (center for the pay to play scandal that led to the arrest of Blogojevich), close pal of the Stroger political machine, ally of State Senate President Emil Jones, Junior (who has his own ethical problems), pals with state treasurer Alexi Giannoulias (dogged by ties to the "mob", and with a history of suspicious loans made by his family-run bank) -- gets credited by the New York Times for "intervening" on an Ethics Bill that "indirectly" led to the case against the Governor.

Apparently, the Times' writers (one of them, Jeff Zeleny is a long-time Chicago fixture and has been criticized for overt Obama obsession) should have read the work of David Freddoso whose book, The Case Against Barack Obama, was a superb examination of the corruption of Chicago machine politics and the role that Barack Obama played in this web.

The Times is practicing toadyism of the highest order. Note the mealy-mouthed words: "intervention" and "indirectly". It is quite a stretch to credit the arrest of the Illinois Governor to Barack Obama; featuring the encomium on the front page of the supposed newspaper of record rises to utter sycophancy.

Barack Obama's "intervention" was not the same as being a drafter or sponsor of the Illinois ethics bill. His intervention amounted to placing a call to Emil Jones (himself a critic of the ethics bill), the president of the Illinois Senate, asking him to see to it that fellow Senate members overrode the veto of the bill by Blagojevich.

Read it all here.