In My Opinion Caroline Porter

Blagojevich unites the whiners.

People like to ask me what I think about Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. And what I tell them is this: Anyone who has infuriated everyone across the board; politicians from both parties, every special interest group and the press, must be doing something right. Politics in the State of Illinois has been an embarrassment for years - in the political arena we are considered one of the stinkiest states in the good old USA. Yep, I am enjoying nearly everyone complaining about cuts in government spending and loss of services, especially Republicans.

First, if Governor B. had said he would leave open the issue of raising taxes, he wouldn’t have been elected. Consider the fate of Richard Olgilvie and Dawn Clark Netsche. That’s our fault, not his. They tried to be honest and it got them nowhere. We are a short-sighted, self absorbed electorate with the attention span of an ant and it’s hard to win elected office by making sense. It just doesn’t fly.

Each special interest group, including the media, thinks they are open-minded and fair when in fact, each group has an interest in themselves and only themselves. The media is apoplectic about Rod’s lack of returning phone calls, not kissing their behinds, not putting them first. Their response is to rake him over the coals about every issue. As far as they are concerned, he’s done nothing right yet.

And we need to make up our minds about whether the welfare of our children is a top priority or not. Here the Guv tries to do the best thing for his family and have them live in their home in Chicago. Jim Edgar didn’t live in the the mansion. It’s not as if big Jim Thompson lived there - he lived in Chicago most of his 92 years as governor. And everyone begged George Ryan to leave the mansion and go back to Chicago.

Good grief, the Guv’s wife has just had a baby, it takes 30 minutes to get from Chicago to Springfield, what difference does it make? I think a better question would be - is the governor’s mansion an archaic building that ought to be made into a convention center or rooming house for visiting dignitaries? If no governor has really lived there for 30 years, maybe legislators should visit the question from another angle.

But then, that would spoil all the fun of bashing Blagojevich for considering the welfare of his family.

Governor Blagojevich has tackled with confidence the disgraceful budget deficit he inherited and doesn’t seem too concerned about what people think. How refreshing. That will probably make him a one-term governor because we just can’t handle that kind of political reform.

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