What Did Obama Know, And When Did He Know It, Part II

Part of the fun of watching the Blagojevich Scandal unfold is to observe the shocked reaction of the Media and the Democrats as they see the wheels come off the Obamamobile. Of course, both of these pillars of society have traditionally set the bar exceptionally low for Democrat politicians when it comes to the Corruption Smell Test. Were it otherwise, most of them would already be in prison, and then where would The Republic and our two-party system of governance be?

My belief as to Obama’s direct knowledge of the crimes is informed by the manifold prosecutions of Republican politicians and their operatives for similar crimes despite profoundly less motive, opportunity or evidence. Let’s call it the “Six Degrees of Scooter Libby” test for criminal political culpability. In this instance, we compare the associations which caused Patrick Fitzgerald to indict Libby, vs. the Hall Pass he's giving to Democrats:

The Crime

In the case of Scooter Libby, there was no crime. Revealing Valerie Plame as a CIA operative is only a crime if she's an undercover agent. She wasn't. Rod Blagojevich selling Obama's Senate seat? Now that is a crime.

Proximity To The Crime

As to the outing of so-called CIA agent Valerie Plame, Fitzgerald already knew it was somebody else (turncoat and Democrat Toady Richard Armitage) before he decided to pursue Libby. In the case of Rod Blagojevich selling Obama's Senate seat, Fitzgerald already knows that Obama and/or his aides were in negotiations with Blagojevich even before the election, were materials witnesses to his crime, and at the very least involved in an attempted cover up.

Motive

Libby had no motive to "out" Valerie Plame as "revenge" for Wilson's so-called fact-finding trip to Africa. In fact, it would have been political suicide for anybody in the Bush Administration to have done so. Obama, on the other hand, had abundant motive and opportunity to negotiate with Blagojevich about his successor, and there is nothing wrong with that, per se. For Obama to deny it, though, is.

Evidence

There was no direct evidence to connect Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, VP Dick Cheney or any of Fitzgerald's other targets to the non-crime of outing Valerie Plame; only the word of a couple of reporters, and as we know from vast experience, when it comes to Republicans, reporters lie. As to the Blagojevich Affair, what's most significant is the number of prominent Democrats who DIDN'T know about his crime, as he apparently called everybody and anybody about selling the seat.

Obama himself refused to absolve his aides from any involvement in his "clarification" of Dec. 11th, saying only that it would be inappropriate of him to comment as to whether his aides were talking to Blagojevich while a criminal investigation was ongoing.

His laughingly transparent "denial" was simply to reiterate that no deal was made with Blagojevich, and that he himself had never spoken to Blagojevich. That said, he's on a slippery slope as his statements get more and more weasel-ish. The only reason for him not to say "neither I or my aides had any conversations with Gov. Blagojevich" is if he or they did. Not that I'm holding my breath for The Media to bring this point up, much less challenge those who do.

As we speak, the Democrats have already stage-managed what had been a minor event to try to knock this story out of the spotlight, with the investigation into the misdeeds of Charlie Rangel. It's the rough equivalent of offering a sacrificial lamb, in hopes that the gods will overlook your more nefarious evil-doing.

Only time will tell if it works....