Live From New York, It’s Rod Blagojevich

1 comment January 27th, 2009

Some folks think it rather odd that Rod Blago is ignoring his own impeachment trial in Springfield and is instead making the talk show rounds in NYC. — I have a hunch he might round out the week by saying “Live from New York it’s Saturday Night.”

It’s not strange at all. This is vintage Blago. Back in 2007 when he was trying to sell that outrageous gross receipts tax to finance a capital spending plan, he did nothing to lobby legislators to pass it, even though they were in session and he could have camped out in Springfield, button-holing lawmakers, as other governors do routinely to get their plans enacted. Instead, Blago went on a bus trip, not talking to a single legislator. Instead, he spoke to his fans at an Elgin restaurant, went to a small factory in Rockford and from there to some other obscure places downstate — I got off the bus after the Rockford stop.

He thought then that he could go around the legislature and convince the people of Illinois to call their reps and senators and tell them to pass his capital plan. The result was a House vote against his gross receipts tax, 107 to 0.

So, when the going gets tough, Rod goes away. He’s told everybody from Rachel to Greta that he knows he’ll be out of a job soon. But to those who say he’s playing to the jury pool in Cook County, looking for one, sympathetic juror when he goes to federal court in his corruption trial, I say no, that’s not it.

I think Rod Blagojevich lives for the moment. I think he is just a publicity hound. He has reconciled himself to the fact that he won’t be governor anymore, and he is moving on from all that, and probably away from Illinois, to become a celebrity with his own talk show. I believe Rod is immensely enjoying his 15 minutes of fame.