Blago Scandal Will Test Obama's Cred

How fast, and how bluntly, will he move to censure corrupt pols?

By Gabriel Winant, Newser User

Posted Dec 10, 2008 9:50 AM CST

(Newser) – Barack Obama’s first test was supposed to come from somewhere like Iran. Instead, write Charles Mahtesian and Jonathan Martin at Politico, it sneaked up from his home turf in the form of Rod Blagojevich—not to mention blossoming charges against Rep. Charlie Rangel. If Obama wants his change message to be taken seriously, he has to get serious. “Within hours he’s got to make a public statement,” says a watchdog group head.

If pushing too hard on ethical standards could endanger his agenda in Congress, ignoring the issue could do so even more. Republicans are already making hay of Democratic corruption. “He’s set out genuinely tough standards, and I think this only increases the reason and pressures to hold to those,” says a Democratic consultant.

[Images (3)]

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Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-NY, arrives to attend a meeting with Barack Obama at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, Tuesday, June 17, 2008. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke)

In this Aug. 17, 2005, file photo Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, left, laughs with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich during Governor's Day at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, Ill. (AP Photo/Randy Squires, File)

President-elect Barack Obama after talking about Gov. Rod Blagojevich during his meeting with Vice President-elect Joe Biden and former Vice President Al Gore, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

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He was for ethics reform before this and will be for it after this. - Abner Mikva, former congressman and judge, and Obama mentor

Obama should look right into the camera and say the process should move forward, that he had no knowledge of the case but that this is a wake-up call for all his new appointments to serve the public trust. - Bob Edgar, president of Common Cause

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Blago Scandal Will Test Obama's Cred