There was one Democrat in 2006 who dared take on Rod Blagojevich’s re-election bid. His name wasn’t Barack Obama, of course, he endorsed Rod, corruption and all.
He was Edwin Eisendrath, who ran against Rod in the Democratic primary. He was interviewed recently by Steve Rhodes of the website Beachwood Reporter.
Beachwood: Obama stood behind Rod.
Eisendrath: The enemy was George Bush, no question. That was the focus of Democrats. The focus was on Barack – money was being raised for Barack.
Beachwood: So nobody wanted to raise questions about, say, Tony Rezko for fear it would spill over and taint Obama?
Eisendrath: People did raise questions. It was well-known. But there were a lot of other priorities . . . I’m not excusing Democrats – finally they got him out – but it was pretty awful . . . I was hoping someone else would have run against Rod and they didn’t and shame on them . . .
This week, Obama will be back in Chicago celebrating his birthday and raising money for Democrats. If there was a vibrant press, he would be asked about the Blagojevich trial and his previous support for the corruption-stained former governor. Nobody will spoil his birthday with such an impolite question.
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