It took the inauguration of an Illinoisan to the presidency to distract from Illinois' embarrassing political drama, writes Kevin McDermott in today's Post-Dispatch. Barack Obama is the fourth president who spent any substantial length of time in Illinois. The other three were Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant and Ronald Reagan -- all three left indelible marks on U.S. history.
But we get a sniff of how the Dems are preparing to smooth over this nasty segment of Illinois' history: Blagojevich is a political aberration (although he was elected governor twice)... Obama is Illinois Democratic normalcy (although he was elected U.S. Senator once).
The Blagojevich drama has involved primarily the state's ruling Democrats, who have been fervent critics of their own party's governor in the last two years. Democratic lawmakers now are eager to characterize Blagojevich as a political aberration, and Obama as more representative of the state's political legacy.
Blagojevich "was a bad apple in the barrel, and we're getting that bad apple out," said state Rep. Thomas Holbrook, D-Belleville. He said Obama's ascension, meanwhile, "speaks to what a quality state we really are."
Will the Republican response be, "At least George Ryan was a one-term bad apple"? What should be Republicans' response to this Democratic spin?
