That's Cold

Yesterday, the Chicago Tribune published the names of the people who had been submitted to Rod Blagojevich by Rahm Emanuel as acceptable to President-elect Obama to take his vacated Senate seat. The five names were state Attorney General Lisa Madigan, state Veterans Affairs head Tammy Duckworth, congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett, and state comptroller Dan Hynes. Of course, this list was submitted before this week's indictment of the governor was handed up.

What is most interesting is who is missing from this list, namely congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. To Jackson, who was one of Obama's national co-chairs and one of his earliest supporters, this has to be a real kick in the testicles. Over the last few days, he has been dealing with his name mixed deep in the Blagojevich scandal, and now he is learning that Obama did not even think highly enough of him to include him in his top five names for the Senate seat that Jackson has long coveted. Ouch.

I can't say I disagree with Obama's judgment here, however. As loyal as Jackson has been to Obama, he has never been a great name for the Senate. While he would likely be able to win a full term in a state as blue as Illinois (at least before his name was connected to this indictment), he is very liberal to the point that he could have had some trouble running statewide. Additionally, having a senator named Jesse Jackson would not have played well in a lot of parts of this country. Jackson may not be his father, but fair or unfair, having him in an elevated position in the Senate was not to the advantage of Democrats, and thus not to the advantage of Obama.

For these reasons, I think Obama was right to move away from endorsing Jackson for the seat. That being said, I wonder if he at least gave the congressman some kind of warning. I doubt it. I presume he and his advisors never thought the list would get out. Now, once all of this dust has settled, he and Jackson may no longer be so chummy. Politics is a rough business.

One more thing. What was with including Madigan on the list? Team Obama knew that he and Madigan hate each other, yet they included her name anyway. Politically, I found that one puzzling, and I think it kind of shows how little regard the President-elect and his team held for Blagojevich. Given the events of the last few days, clearly such a low opinion for the governor turned out to be quite merited, but I just found Madigan's name on the list pretty interesting.