I am not surprised. In some ways, I think we deserved to have Blago-Gate blow up in our faces on none other than the international Anti-Corruption Day. I'm of the opinion that the President-Elect did nothing wrong, and probably was more helpful to the FBI than they'd like to admit(Rahm Emanuel is the man). However, this is embarrassing and will continue to be so as the investigation goes on. It's a Democrat, and I bet another Democrat(Senate Candidate #5) or two from Obama's hometown will go down before the dust has settled. A big distraction. Did I mention that I'm of the belief that Blagojevich is, at the very least, mentally disturbed? Prepare for a circus of a trial starring Blago the Clown.
Now to digress, I think we may have deserved this. Rep. William Jefferson, soon to be former Representative William Jefferson, should have been disciplined early on. If we are not the party of ethics, than what the Hell are we? Let's not make the same mistake twice. Representative Charles Rangel should go, and Speaker Pelosi should stop defending him.
Many of us supported Barack Obama early on for many different reasons. I, myself, liked his realist-opposition to the war from the get-go and his stance on Pakistan(in both cases, he demonstrated foresight). Some of you liked him because of the simple-yet-not promise of change, or as anyone-but-Hillary. Undoubtedly, all of us had an easier time supporting him because of his success in passing ethics legislation. Some of us may have even started to support him because of that legislation. Well, let me tell you; a sin is a sin, no matter the party of the sinner. If we are serious about the importance of ethics, than the party must be willing to walk-the-walk; even if that means watching the fall of a Democratic ally.
We deserved to lose the congressional seat in New Orleans. If anyone doubts that, than they obviously did not pay attention to the scandal surrounding Rep. Jefferson. Many in positions of leadership did pay attention to Rep. Jefferson and they did nothing. They allowed him to remain. Right now, as we speak, the same mistake is being repeated by Speaker Pelosi as she publicly defends Representative Charles Rangel. This contradicts a story by the New York Post, no liberal bastion, that claimed Pelosi had been pushing for Rangel to step down from the powerful Ways and Means Committee.
Considering the NY Post's past track record of not always being reliable(to say the very least), it's difficult for me to decide what to believe. This is one of those rare moments when I hope that their report was accurate. If anyone is wondering why Charles Rangel shouldn't have the privilege of serving the American people, read this exchange between Rangel and the editorial board of the New York Times. Or this story from the Los Angeles Times from back in September. Then again, why not this story from today. Charles Rangel has, at the very least, a very dark cloud hanging over his head. He probably has much more than just a dark cloud hanging there, and I doubt that his future political fortunes will be anything but toxic.
Many of us laughed and chuckled when Senator DeMint(R-SC), a firebrand conservative, called for his fellow Republican Senators to kick Ted Stevens out of their caucus, only to be silenced and then forced to watch a day later as Ted Stevens is finally routed by Mark Begich. The Republicans had a chance to clean their own house, and instead they saw it get cleaned out by outside forces. We saw it happen with Representative Jefferson in Louisiana when he was surprisingly defeated by the first Vietnamese-American to be elected to Congress(who is, unfortunately, a Republican). So what, exactly, are we waiting for?
To be progressive is to be true to progressive ideals and values. Many(but not all) of these ideals and values are universal, shared by idealistic secularists and the religious conservatives. They are common sense and should not have to be debated.
We deserve better.