Last Sunday, Gov. Rod Blagojevich was a special guest at Salem's "House of Hope." Now, the line between church and politics has always been blurred, with the church being ground zero for social revolution. Also, the last Presidential election was definitely an exercise in faith-based politics. The Evangelical right-wing Christian movement did an effective job of making gay marriage a bigger issue than the economy and the war in Iraq. Now, I'm a Christian, and I am not a fan of gay marriage. But at the same time, if I'm electing a leader of the free world, I want to see what he's going to do to end this war and stabilize the economy. But I said all of this to say that at times, I can understand when politicians come into the church house.
This time, though, it was nothing but pure grandstanding. Gov. Blago used his time on Salem's pulpit and TV to announce his grand plan to save the CTA: Give free rides to the elderly! And in his most disingenuous moment ever, he asked questions like "Who wants to see their grandma get a free ride on a bus?" DUH! In a huge church like that, what... was someone going to say "Let them old folks ride for free!" But in an amazing twist, that's EXACTLY what happened. He presented his plan to a group of senior citizens, and they proceeded to verbally thrash him for his obvious pandering. One senior citizen said "Why shouldn't we have to pay?" Gov. Blago responded with this coalition-building statement: "Hold your nose and ride for free."
The most galling part of all of this was that the plan that the governor threatened to veto with his "Free Rides To The Elderly" plan was in front of him at least 9 months ago. So, instead of getting the deal done, or negotiating in good faith with the Illinois congressmen to get a budget passed, Gov. Blagojevich makes an end-run around the Illinois legislative branch, and tries to present his idea to a seemingly sympathetic public. To say it backfired would be an understatement. On the one hand, the deal was done, and another doomsday has been averted. On the other hand, Governor Blago's actions were so reprehensible to his fellow Democrats that they are going to create an Illinois Constitutional amendment to strip the Governor of these kinds of veto powers. Think about that for a second. You are so universally reviled by your party that not only are they not bonding with you, but they are going to add an amendment to the CONSTITUTION to take your toys away.
On the national scene, Billionaire Bob Johnson was forced to apologize for trying (yet again) to raise the spectre of Obama's drug use. The Clinton camp caught hell in a handbasket for trying to be slick with racial politics, and Bob's comments were nothing but political quid pro quo. After all, Bill Clinton put in a good word to NBA Commissioner David Stern to help Bob Johnson acquire an NBA franchise. Bob (and his ilk) was acting as a good soldier, mouthpiece, and front man would... throwing out comments, statements and jokes that would absolutely crucify Hillary Clinton if she or Bill made them directly. The supporters get to float the negative campaign ideas, and if it bombs, Hillary can threaten to distance herself from them unless they apologized... and if the public begins to embrace the idea, then Clinton can make it an official part of the campaign. The problem with that is that (at least I hope) the general populace is too sophisticated to fall for this okee-doke. I know that in listening to Roland S. Martin's show, callers were HEATED. Some Black women who supported Hillary were so disgusted with what has taken place that they pledged their support to Obama. Hillary needs to watch her step before any "Bill Clinton goodwill" has completely eroded to the level of hate reserved for Hannity and Limbaugh.
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