Friday, December 12, 2008

Politics As Usual !!!

So I was in the San Francisco Bay area this past October. I happened to be with a "friend" of mine, and we swung by her mother's house for a quick visit. Inevitably while I was there, the conversation turned to politics. Her mother knows that I am well versed when it comes to talking politics, and she asked my opinion of the, then, upcoming election. As I stated in the past, I voted for President Bush in the 2004 election, and her mother asked me, quite sarcastically I might add, "so are you voting for John McCain this time"? This question lead us to talk about a book that I was reading at the time called "The case against Barack Obama". She had heard of the book, and asked what was the gist of the argument against him. At that point, I had only made it through the first few chapters, so I explained to her that they were questioning some of his associations with local Chicago politicians. I said "I've heard of many of the people that they linked him with, and I must admit that I too have a problem with those associations. Chicago politics is a very dirty game, and I wonder just how down and dirty Obama got". It is with the backdrop of that conversation that I officially start this blog.

When you heard that O.J. Simpson had gotten himself in trouble again back in 2007, I'm sure that many of you asked yourselves a similar question to mine: Who could be so stupid? Well, on Tuesday, I got my answer. His name is Rod Blagojevich, the Governor of Illinois. (Or as I will call him from here on in this blog, Inmate number 11042008). On Tuesday, Inmate number 11042008 and his chief of staff John Harris were arrested on charges of wire and mail fraud, and solicitation of bribes. The charges themselves were not terribly surprising. What was surprising was that he was arrested for trying to sell the soon to be vacated Senate seat of Barack Obama. So I said to myself "they've had this fool under investigation for a while. Why would he be so stupid as to try and get bribes while the Feds were listening? I mean, he had to know that he wouldn't get away with it".

The Governor's actions were appalling and took a set of balls that would weigh down Paul Bunyan. But as usual, Inmate 11042008 has denied all charges. And with that denial, comes the inevitable refusal on his part to resign from his post. That to me is the biggest crime of all. I'm tired of government officials screwing up, and then refusing to, metaphorically, "fall on their sword".

The city of Detroit dealt with a huge scandal involving their then mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. The video below is a synopsis of the charges lobbed against Kilpatrick.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLQ02-pbRB0

I'd been hearing about the mayor and his troubles for a while. And I will be completely honest, I gave the brotha the benefit of the doubt. But as more and more information came to light, it became readily apparent that my man really needed to step down. Unfortunately, like many politicians in similar positions, he allowed his ego to get in the way, and he remained in office for far too long. Eventually Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to the charges, and was sentenced to 120 days in jail. However, according to wikipedia, there were a laundry list of charges lobbed against Kilpatrick. Personally, I believe this brotha got off incredibly lucky.

Then there was Larry Craig. He was the Idaho senator who was busted in the Minneapolis Airport soliciting sex from an undercover (male) police officer in June of 2007. He originally pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct. But when the charges came to light, Craig tried to withdraw his guilty plea, something he is still contesting to this day. He also has denied being gay, however there have been many people who have come forward and refuted that claim. As usual, there were calls for Craig to step down as Senator. He initially refused to step down, but relented on September 1, 2007. Separate from the whole gay issue, which is none of my business, Craig was wrong for getting caught soliciting sex. He should have immediately given up his Senate seat.

My belief is that we as Americans made a huge mistake back in 1998-99. See, when the whole Monica Lewinsky scandal came to light, too many of us, me included, rallied to Bill Clinton's defense. What my man did was wrong. Yes cheating on his wife, but even worse than that, lying under oath. I liked Bill. Unofficially, he was the first black President. But my man had a greater responsibility to the American people. When it came to light that he had been fooling around in the White House, he should have resigned from office, and preserved the dignity of the office of the Presidency. By him fighting the charges, narrowly avoiding impeachment, and then finishing his term as President, he has given rise to other politicians across the country. Now they feel as though "Well, I'm not the President. And if he can get away with what he did, what I did is no big deal." Well what they do is a big deal! We elect these people to represent us, not themselves. I don't know about you, but I'd NEVER cheat on my wife. I'd NEVER solicit sex from a male police officer. And I'd NEVER try and sell a Senate seat! So why should I be represented by anyone who would?

In closing, I'd just like to say this about Inmate 11042008. I know that Chicago politics has always been a crooked game. Pay for play has been going on as long as the Championship drought for my beloved Cubs. But given the fact that you took over for a previously disgraced Governor, George Ryan, wouldn't it have been wise for you to try and restore some of the public trust? But I guess you just couldn't escape what "Chicago Way."

-DrizaDre-

11 comments:

urbanknitrix said...

Wow. I am a political junky as well and have been feeling the same way about the selling of the Senate seat. However, I disagree with the comparison to Bill Clinton. Meaning, everyone didn't get crooked after Bill they been doing this crap for many years and the same people prosecuting him were the same people doing dirt. I think that is what had some people in arms as well.

Mr. Kilpatrick should have BEEN stepped down, I was very disappointed in him, he came in with a lot of promise and then he started ego tripping and what really got me was he act like he didn't do anything wrong. He got off very easy.

Okay, I wrote too much. I am just saying, politics need to change, and your right, it is politics as usual and it didn't start or stop with Slick Willy.

JuJu said...

humm that's very interesting.. and yes i agree; american eff'd up when bill clinton left office.

Humbly Beautiful said...

Very interesting. What I don't get is that everyone ine Chicago and in the state of Illinois keep saying they knew there was something wrong with the govenor and people have even called him a sociopath and no one has done anything about it. His own lieutenant govenor has said he has not spoken to him in over a year.

They are elected by the people and are supposed to work for the people, but not of the actions of the politicians that you have mentioned have been things that most people do or condone... It is just sad.

Mrs. Mary Mack said...

A friend of mine compared the whole thing to a few episodes of The Wire...Chicago just can't get right! But hey Texas is now known for one of the dubmest leaders ever so go figure...I'd rather be crooked than dumb.

Anonymous said...

Good Points Brother!

♥ CG ♥ said...

The illusion of power makes people do the dumbest things.

clnmike said...

What surprises me is that every one is acting like the misdeeds by politicians is something new.

This has been going on the difference is that you can not go use the bathroom with out a Fox news crew floating in the toilet waiting to tell the world what color it is.

Bang Bang said...

These people are hypocrites to the bone and we should vote whether or not they should stay in their elected seat. At the end of the day we gave it to them we should have the right to take it away.

Now the Sex thing....

In my opinion we have nothing to do with their sexual lives.

Bill Clinton cheated on his wife. [Don't Care}
as long as he isn't cheating on America. I don't even know why we cared?

I mean how many people are doing things like cheating, pretending to be straight all the while having an affair with a man, so on and so forth. They are still able to do their jobs excellently. It looks bad but what can you do?

MLK was cheating but he still did his job excellently..
Should we of cancel the whole movement casue he wasn't being faithful?

That dude that soliciting sex needs to step down cause he was a breaking the law....

Fair is Fair.

I mean is it me but why are all politicians gay? Yet they don't want to admit it. Yet they ban gay marriage and have this hatred for them? They can have sex with men and lead these double lives. I think we would be surprised at how many gay people are in office.....



But that whole Bill Clinton thing the only one that should be interrogating him under oath is Hilary

A said...

All I want to say is "THANK YOU"!!! Finally someone has said what I have been thinking and stated on a few occassions (but have been shut down lol) about the whole bill and monica situation, that was the beginning of the end for any politicians to show any amount of respect in regards to thier duties

Miss Definitely Maybe said...

Power corrupts
and i guess it makes people feel that they are invincible
hopefully obama wont go down the same disgraceful road

Darius T. Williams said...

Blago? A mess!

Don't ya just love talking politics?