Exactly. And the developers worked under the umbrella of the Mayor, not the governor. The developers had to pay off the Mayor’s people in order to get zoning rulings etc. Daley is the Godfather figure for Obama, not Blago.
Now, Daley might be reachable via Blago but I doubt it. He’s waaaaaaaaaay too smart. Blago is dumber than dumb. Even his own father-in-law, ward boss Dick Mell, could see that and distanced himself early on.
Blago was the easy one to pick off. Daley’s a tougher nut to crack, mainly because his bag men are so willing to fall on their swords for him but also because the Daley machine is so well oiled that his underlings know what to do without him giving direct orders. It’s all done wink-wink, nod-nod, so Daley retains deniability. Blago was a blabbermouth, as the tapes show, a really awesomely stupid blabbermouth. Daley’s people are tightlipped.
And Obama’s much more like Daley’s people than Blago.
“a really awesomely stupid blabbermouth......”
I would add to your fine description “breathtakingly arrogant”.
It is obvious that Blago should have clammed up and locked things down after the Rezko indictment but he was too stupidly arrogant to do so. Stupidity, arrogance and a big mouth are a bad combination for any politician but it should have penetrated Blago’s obtuseness that with an honest U.S. Attorney (Fitzgerald) in town it was a new ballgame.
You are absolutely correct about Daley and Obama. They will be much tougher nuts to crack because they are smarter than Blago and more ruthless.