Rod Rode Flood Back Into Spotlight

June 23rd, 2008 at 09:58am Aaron Chambers

Will the great flood of 2008 save Rod Blagojevich’s political career?

It’s doubtful, given the Illinois governor’s extreme unpopularity (his popularity rating neared 13 percent in recent months) and his ongoing troubles (continuing federal probe of his administration, talk about possible impeachment and his fundamental difficulty with managing state government).

But it’s clear that catastrophic flooding of Illinois communities was, for Blagojevich over the last week, the gift that kept on giving. Each day, the governor traveled to flood-ravaged scenes while his handlers focused on producing a steady stream of news releases highlighting the governor’s efforts.

From the AP …

When Gov. Rod Blagojevich stopped to visit volunteers filling sandbags to fight floodwaters threatening this Mississippi River town, the spotlight was not on impeachment. Or his ongoing feud with lawmakers. Or the conviction of his top political fundraiser.

Instead, the Democratic governor was greeted with smiles and handshakes — even by 25-year-old Quincy Republican Kent Voth, who took a break from shoveling sand to mug for a picture with Blagojevich.

“I’m glad he came,” Voth said.

Besides offering the governor a chance to show himself as a leader with his finger on the pulse of real concerns in Illinois, the flood was a great distraction last week from matters the governor would perhaps rather not focus on.

For starters, there’s that state budget plan the governor claims is more than $2 billion out of balance. The governor has done his best to make a big fuss about how he believes this budget plan is unconstitutional, but he has yet to say exactly what he might do to rectify the problem.

Will he veto the budget? Call lawmakers back into special session? He won’t say. The next fiscal year — a year for which this state does not have a budget — begins July 1.

The flood gave the governor a week off from that intensifying public conversation. He’s just a hard-working governor trying to make things right for the hard-working, regular people of Illinois, and not the least bit concerned about all that budget and impeachment talk, after all.

Today, the governor plans to continue his publicity tour:

EAST ALTON – Governor Rod R. Blagojevich will sign a new law allowing Mississippi river counties to collect funds for emergency levee repair and flood prevention to provide immediate assistance to areas affected by recent flooding in Illinois.

WHO: Governor Rod R. Blagojevich

Mayor Don Sandidge
State Sen. Haine
State Sen. James Clayborne
State Rep. Jay Hoffman
State Rep. Dan Beiser
State Rep. Tom Holbrook
Alan Dunstan, Madison County Board Chairman
Mark Kern, St. Clair County Board Chairman

WHEN: 2:30 p.m.

LOCATION: Melvin Price Lock & Dam
1 Lock and Dam Way
East Alton, IL 62024

The flood also served as nifty cover for Blagojevich to skip a forum that Barack Obama sponsored on Friday to show support for his presidential bid from Democratic governors (like Blagojevich).

Obama’s people said they had in fact invited Blagojevich to attend (Blagojevich is Obama’s home-state governor), but it’s hard to imagine Obama and his people weren’t happy not to have Blagojevich sharing the stage with Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee. Obama must worry about the luster of his own spotlight.

Entry Filed under: Rod Blagojevich, Barack Obama