Posted on 05/29/2010 10:17:24 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON – So much for changing how Washington works.
Crimping his carefully crafted outsider image and undercutting a centerpiece of his 2008 campaign, President Barack Obama got caught playing the usual politics — dangling a job offer for a political favor in the hunt for power.
His lawyer admitted as much in a Friday report. It detailed how Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, sent former President Bill Clinton on a mission: try to persuade Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., to abandon his primary challenge to Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., by offering an executive branch post. Sestak said no, stayed in the race and beat the incumbent.
"I can assure the public that nothing improper took place," Obama had told reporters at the White House on Thursday.
True or not, Obama has a political problem.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
He is a fool to believe it will change under Dems anyway, and thus, the turmoil intensifies ..
Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Sestak talks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington May 28, 2010. The White House tried to get Sestak to drop his Senate primary bid in Pennsylvania in exchange for an unpaid administration job, according to an internal report released on Friday that concluded the offer was legal. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The UK, China & Russia must be laughing their fool heads off ;-)
Please. Who really thought he was an *outsider*??
"I can assure the public that nothing improper took place," Obama had told reporters at the White House on Thursday.
Except your lawyer has admitted that your COS sent an agent to offer a sitting MOC an Executive Branch position in exchange for his dropping out of a Senate primary. OOPSIE.
Doncha just love that "casual Joe" look? Jacket held by a couple of fingers over his shoulder --- all part of the "no big deal" image effort.
Sorry, Joe. It is a big deal. You are now entangled in the Obamafia web.
Wish I could remember the four or five questions Krauthammer (w/Brett Baier on Friday) posed with regard to Bauer’s press release. One cited Bauer’s claim that during June/July (or July/August) efforts were made to influence Sestak’s decision to run. CK said two months was a pretty long phone call. Another was the fact that no denial about paid positions appeared in the 1.5 page report. Well worth watching.
Let’s see, according to Sestak, he was offered a “postion” on the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, a board he could not serve on while still a member of Congress. So he was being asked to give up his $217,000 per year gig, to serve on a board whose members are not paid.
I sense there is a connection here, but I just can’t quite put my finger on it.
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So Liz Sidoti admits that this incident has put a smudge on Obama. I'm surprised she was that tough on him. I figured she say it was a "little tiny dent."