Today, the exciting news of the official demise of increasingly UNpopular governor Rod Blagojevich came out bright and early. We are talking about a governor here that had unprecedentedly low approval ratings: even lower than those of universally loved President George W. Bush.
According to the Chicago Tribune, in October of 2008, " [He] suffered the lowest ratings ever recorded for an elected politician in nearly three decades of Chicago Tribune polls...The survey also showed only 13% approved of Blagojevich's performance, while 71% disapproved." (Wikipedia)
So even before his final misstep, Blagojevich was not a rock star in Illinois. However, his recent actions after the election of Barack Obama have made me really question the future of our government leadership.
According to Cnn.com, Blagojevich was arrested today along with his Chief of Staff around 7:30 A.M eastern time on one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and a count of solicitation of bribery. Apparently, these charges stemmed from Blagojevich "conspiring to sell or trade the vacant Senate seat in exchange for financial benefits for himself and his wife, Patti." (CNN)
Now, I find it sadly ironic that Blagojevich ran on a campaign of eliminating corruption. This case gives me even less faith in our political system and our political icons as it sends the message that nobody can be trusted. Who do you vote for when so many people appear to only be out to better their own cause? Unfortunately, there is no answer, we Americans simply must do our best to sort out the bad from the good, if possible, and then hope our favorite politician isn't a crook as well. If you live in Illinois, odds are you're out of luck with our recent string of corrupt governors (George Ryan before Blagojevich).
Let's just hope that Barack Obama can avoid any association with these corrupt men.
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